About 5.5 million children from nomadic pastoralist, migrant fishing and migrant farming communities are out of school across Nigeria, the National Commission for Nomadic Education has disclosed.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr Umar Abdu, revealed this on Tuesday in Kano, warning that millions of children from the three marginalised groups remain excluded from formal education despite their combined estimated population of 45.9 million.
Abdu spoke in an interview with PUNCH on the sidelines of a three-day international conference on education for nomadic pastoralists and other marginalised learners.
He said the Federal Government’s nomadic education programme was designed to cater for three categories of communities, contrary to the widespread perception that it was exclusively meant for Fulani pastoralists.
“One major problem with discussions about nomadic education in Nigeria is the misconception that the programme is exclusively meant for Fulani people. That is not correct,” he said.
“The programme targets three major groups: nomadic pastoralists, migrant fisherfolk and migrant farmers. These groups have a combined estimated population of 45.9 million across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory,” he added.
The acting executive secretary said the commission currently had at least 1.9 million learners enrolled across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He explained that the commission had introduced alternative learning methods, including mobile schools, learning centres under trees and radio-based education, to reach children affected by insecurity, geographical isolation and other barriers to conventional schooling.
Abdu also disclosed that the commission was establishing skills acquisition centres to equip young people with vocational skills and alternative sources of livelihood, thereby improving their economic independence and the living conditions of their families.
However, he identified inadequate and delayed funding, teacher shortages, frequent transfers, girls’ dropout rates and poor transition from primary to junior secondary education as major obstacles to the programme.
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He said budgetary allocations were often insufficient to meet the commission’s nationwide responsibilities and were sometimes released late.
Abdu also lamented that the commission lacked direct control over teachers deployed to nomadic schools because education falls under the Concurrent Legislative List, with responsibilities shared among the three tiers of government.
“We sometimes experience situations where teachers trained and deployed to nomadic schools are transferred to conventional schools. This results in teacher attrition and disrupts the continuity of learning in nomadic communities,” he said.
He said the commission was engaging state and local governments to ensure that teachers remained in nomadic schools while encouraging the recruitment of qualified personnel from nomadic communities who understand the language, culture and lifestyles of the learners.
On girls’ education, Abdu said enrolment was usually encouraging between Primary One and Primary Three but declined from Primary Four as some parents withdrew their daughters for early marriage and domestic responsibilities.
He also identified what he described as the “child substitution syndrome”, where parents withdraw older children from school to assist with cattle herding, fishing and farming before enrolling younger siblings in their place.
According to him, the practice disrupts educational progression because younger children cannot simply continue from the class level attained by their older siblings.
He added that the absence of nearby junior secondary schools in many nomadic communities further undermined the transition from primary education, particularly for girls.
To address the challenges, Abdu said the commission was seeking support from development partners, state governments, philanthropists and other stakeholders.
He disclosed that Bauchi, Jigawa, Zamfara and Sokoto states had established agencies responsible for nomadic education, while Niger State had created a ministry for nomadic education and pastoral affairs.
The commission, he added, was also collaborating with state agencies, State Universal Basic Education Boards and non-governmental organisations to improve access to and retention in education among the three target groups.
The conference, themed, “Strengthening Inclusive and Flexible Education Pathways for Nomadic Pastoralists and Marginalised Learners in Africa,” was organised as Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria, Kano, partnered with three African universities to establish a consortium aimed at improving educational access for marginalised communities.
The partner institutions are the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Kenya; Capital University, Somalia; and the University of Namibia.
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