NAFISA Shehu dreams of becoming a doctor in the future. Sadly, the path she is presently travelling on will not lead her to the realisation of that dream. The girl, originally from Katsina State, begs for a living with her mother on the Ojoo Bridge in Ibadan with any hope of receiving formal education virtually absent. She was in primary four at the school which she attended before relocating down south with her mother. But right now, the closest she gets to being formally educated is when she visits the North and goes to her ‘old school’ to experience what could best be regarded as ‘holiday’ class. The opportunity soon fades away again the moment she and her mother leave and return to ‘work’ (begging) in Ibadan.
“I used to go to school in the North but I have not been enrolled in any school here. However, whenever we visit the North, I attend school for the duration of our stay there,” Nafisa emphasized during an interview with Saturday Tribune.
It is a universal claim that education is the bedrock of societal growth; it is the basic building block for every society and the best investment a country can make for itself. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, a lot of children are deprived of education for varying reasons, even when primary education is free.
Article 26 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory.”
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), although primary education is free and compulsory, about 10.5 million children in Nigeria between the ages of five and 14 are out of school.
Among the 10.5 million out-of-school children are a number of kids that had been pulled out of classrooms in the North and exposed to the ‘business’ of begging by their parents in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Some of the kid-beggars, like Nafisa, told Saturday Tribune that they were schooling in the North before they were brought to the South by their parents.
Fourteen-year-old Nafisa believes that as a doctor, she could help the people, especially her parents. “I want to become a doctor so that I can help people. I like the profession,” she said.
As of the time Hassana Mohammadu was removed from school by her mother and brought to Ibadan to join her in begging for money, she was in primary two.
“I was in primary two before I came here, but I don’t go to school anymore.” The seven-year-old comes to the Ojoo Bridge every day to beg alongside her mother when other children of her age are in school.
For Hassana, teaching is her favourite profession. She longs for the opportunity to go back to school for a chance to realise this dream. “I would like to become a teacher if I am able to finish school. If I become a teacher, I can take care of my parents and help many others, especially children.”
On why the children are out of school, the parents (mothers) said they lacked the required resources to send them to school. Aisha Gambo said the little money they realised from their daily begging activity they send back home to cater for the children that were left behind.
“Some of our children are schooling in the North. For me, it is what I get from here that I send to them for school fees,” Gambo said. The women described the North as an uninteresting place to live right now because of the rate of killings and kidnapping. “We can’t go back to the North because of how uninteresting it is to live there now. The rate of killings and kidnapping keeps getting high” Gambo stated.
Murja Mohammed was among the out-of-school children Saturday Tribune encountered during its visit to the Ojoo Bridge. It was gathered that her mother was making arrangements to enroll her in a school. Murja was in primary four in a school in Katsina when her mother told her to join her in begging in Ibadan. The 10-year-old girl dreams of becoming a soldier “so that I can defend the country and take care of my parents.” Efforts to reach her mother were futile.
Speaking on children from the North begging on the streets of Ibadan, the Special Assistant to the Oyo State Governor on Arewa, Alhaji Murtala Ahmed, said the parents “see the children as business tools.” Murtala said before now, a lot of children did not go to school because of the little charges at public schools but now the Governor Seyi Makinde government had made everything totally free.
Ahmed said: “The Oyo State government has made primary education totally free. Parents now do not spend a dime to send their children to school anymore. Before now, if you came here in the morning, you would see children playing everywhere and parents were more concerned with how to cater for their families than sending their wards to school.
“The little charges parents used to pay in school have been stopped. I have met those parents begging with their children countless times and asked them to allow their children to go to school. I even volunteered to sew their uniforms and do all other necessary things but they have refused. They do not want the children to go school because it is like they are using them for business.
“If they go begging with the children, they make more money because of the sympathy people have for children and that is why they do not allow the children to go to school.”
He said because of the concern the government had for the beggars and people living on the streets, a befitting shelter was built and three-square meals were provided for them daily but they have deserted the facility for the streets again.
“The government provided a secure shelter for the beggars at Akinyele and they are fed three times daily but they prefer to stay on the streets. They say they do not get alms at the facility like they do on the streets.”
The governor’s aide added that the children had been exposed to money, so even if some parents send them to school, they run back to the streets.
“The children also understand that they get money through begging so when they are sent to school they would run away. I picked a couple of them from the street one time when I was passing by. I pacified them and they agreed to follow me.
“I took them to Akinyele but they have all left the facility. They are back on the streets. Even though everything is being catered for at Akinyele, they are not concerned about their safety, health and what have you. They are just after the little money they make on the streets.”
He expressed the belief that the parents are the major reason why the kid-beggars are out of school.
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