A Former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Adamawa State, Ahmad Sajoh has highlighted the Northern elites’ failure to fulfill their responsibilities in empowering the young people. He illustrated the depth of this issue by recounting an incident during the protest where children broke into the Kano Library and took everything except books.
He argued that this behavior demonstrates a troubling deviation from societal expectations and priorities which is reflecting on the broader neglect of education in Northern Nigeria. He lamented that these neglected children have become prime targets for recruitment by insurgents, bandits, and kidnappers.
He said in an interview with Arise TV From 28;31, ”What played out is a clear indication of the abdication of the role and responsibilities of the Northern elites. We have abdicated our role and responsibilities to empower our young people. We have allowed a large army of uneducated out of school children who are now walking about the streets without homes and families. They don’t understand what is family, they don’t understand what is societal norms and they are roaming the street.
And we could see children not age 5 to 10 coming out to protest. When these children broke into Kano Library, they took everything except books. Not one book was taken away by any of them. That tells you the direction these guys are following is totally different from whatever you are thinking of. So we have neglected education in Northern Nigeria and we have allowed a large army of uneducated young people to be roaming around streets. And many of them have been the reservoir from where insurgents have been recruiting their army. They have been the reservoir from where Bandits and Kidnappers have been recruiting their army to perpetrate criminal activities all over the place.”….Sêe_Morē