National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, has said that government cannot continue to overlook the threat posed by the Almajiri system of education in Nigeria.
Monguno made the comments while speaking at the launch of the revised National Security Strategy for 2019 on Wednesday.
He said, “The issue of illiteracy is directly linked to the issue of children not going to school.
“This Almajiri phenomenon which we have been talking about, we cannot continue to push it under the carpet because eventually it will come back to bite us.
“We need to deal with this issue and it is the responsibility of all of us to try and take care of this issue without any inhibition.”
Monguno added that insurgency in the North-East continues to be influenced by growing conflict in Africa’s Sahel region
He said, “The issue of insurgency in the North-East is directly linked to the issue of terrorism in the Sahel which is an increasingly volatile neighbourhood and the situation is also derived from what is happening in Libya which in turn is affected by the lack of security in Syria which derived its own situation ultimately from Iraq.
“Now, when we look at the issue of farmers and pastoralists perpetual conflict, it is also linked to the influx of armed groups and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons across porous borders.
“In our own case, we are talking of some 4,040 kilometres of land borders. “Again, when you look at the upsurge in armed banditry, it is part of the sphere of transnational organised crime which is affecting us.
“Fundamentally, if we are going to take care of these problems, we need to try and safeguard the fast-growing young population of Nigeria.
“We need to look at issues of poverty eradication and illiteracy.”
