The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Christian Aid, Amanda Mukwashi has called on the government to urgently address the situation in the North-east to forestall the problem from festering on the entire country in the future.
Mukwasi made the remark while on a courtesy visit to the Borno Deputy Governor, Alhaji Usman Kadafur, arguing that the number of out-of-school children in the north-east, is a sitting on a time bomb.
She has been on tour to selected internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Maiduguri to witness the situation on ground.
As Mukwasi moved around she wondered: “If you have 10 or 12 years old that are not in school at the moment, how are you preparing them for the future?
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“What happens in the future if they miss out on education, this is a lost to a generation and if this generation does not get education, it could be problematic and to safe ourselves the problem of the future, we need to invest in actually educating these young people.”
She also raised concern that in some of the camps visited where there are schools, the teachers were nowhere to be found, admonishing that: “Let us provide the teachers, and I do not think it is for lack of people who are qualified. So, let us look for the teachers and pay them, let us get them into the classrooms so that we can provide good quality education for this young people.”
“Christian Aid is ready to collaborate with government and other local actors so that we can see what can be done.”
Mukwashi also lamented that the infrastructure at the camps were not the best and did not dignify the IDPs.
She urged the government to do something in this regard and work on the nutrition of the people on the camps especially pregnant women and lactating mothers.
She noted that though CAID is a faith based organisation, it works for the good and benefit of all in spite of faith, with the aim of restoring dignity and well-being to human.