Advocating for Education Investment to Break Cycle of Insecurity and Poverty

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former President of the Senate Bukola Saraki, and National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Prince Uche Secondus have emphasized the need for massive investment in education to address the pressing issues of insecurity, poverty, and unemployment in Nigeria. Speaking at the launch of the Abubakar Kawu Baraje foundation, they highlighted the urgent need for prioritizing human capital development to harness the demographic dividends innate in the country's young population.

Key Takeaways:

• Atiku Abubakar commended the initiative of the Abubakar Kawu Baraje foundation, aimed at providing quality education at no cost to children of the less privileged, and highlighted the importance of investing in human capital development to break the cycle of poverty and insecurity.
• Atiku noted that Nigeria's ranking in the global Human Capital Development index is abysmal, and the country is bedeviled by an army of out-of-school children, legion of the unemployed, rampaging insecurity, rising poverty rate, and persistent underdevelopment.
• Bukola Saraki lamented that the problem of insecurity is a result of poor attention to education of youths, particularly in the areas of moral and spiritual upliftment, and charged government and traditional rulers to invest more in moral and spiritual education of the youths.
• Prince Uche Secondus linked the inability to invest in education to the nation's distress situation and emphasized the need for leaders to have mentorship to prevent the stealing of public funds.
• The Abubakar Kawu Baraje foundation aims to provide quality education at no cost to children of the less privileged, with a focus on raising morally and spiritually upright leaders.

Statistics:

• 13.9 million Nigerian youths are currently unemployed (as of the second quarter of 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics).
• The highest unemployment rate is recorded for youths between 15 - 24 years (40.8%), followed by ages 25 - 34 years (30.7%).
• Nigeria's unemployed youth population is more than the total population of about thirty other African countries.
• The youth population accounts for sixty-four percent of total unemployed Nigerians.

Sources:

• Atiku Abubakar, Bukola Saraki, and Prince Uche Secondus (speakers at the launch of the Abubakar Kawu Baraje foundation)
• National Bureau of Statistics (reference to unemployment statistics)
• The Abubakar Kawu Baraje foundation (launch event)