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Huge Population Could be a Curse, El-Rufai Says about North West

Huge Population Could be a Curse, El-Rufai Says about North West

Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has disclosed that the human capital development indices of the Northwestern Nigeria have shown that the region is afflicted with various types of crises, and that the large population of the region could be a blessing or curse.

He said “We have the largest population of any geopolitical zone in the country. That is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing if we keep the population healthy and educate the children and give them skills for the future. Because, if they’re not educated, they’re not healthy and they feel hopeless.

“This is what we’re seeing with our insecurity. Most of the bandits we arrest have never gone to school. They have no notion of religion, whether Christianity or Islam, and they have no hope. If we don’t invest in education, health care, nutrition, our situation will just get worse.”

El-Rufai said this on Tuesday at a forum tagged “Human Capital Development Communications Strategy Validation Meeting” organised by the National Economic Council (NEC) at the presidential villa in Abuja.

He said only the political leadership would avert the Afghanistan scenario through a massive investment in the country’s education sector to address the menace of banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping, among other social ills.

According to him: “I represent the North West zone in Human Capital Development Council. And as you know, our part of the country is afflicted with the highest numbers of out-of-school children, some of the highest poverty rate and some of the highest drop-out rates in our schools.

“As if that is not enough, many of our schools are now closed due to the insecurity around our boarding schools. In most of the states of the North West, schools have been closed for a while, while security operations are taking place making our educational situation even worse.

“Our health statistics are not better. This is why you will notice that only the North West has the highest representation of governors or Deputy Governors here. My elder brother, the deputy governor of Katsina, is here because this subject is very, very important to us. It is what keeps us awake at night.”

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Faruk Khalil
Faruk Khalilhttps://nigeriansketch.com/
Khalil Faruk (Deputy Editor-in-Chief), has a Bachelors and Master's degree in Political Science and has worked as a reporter, features editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief respectively in a leading Nigerian daily. He has undergone trainings in journalism, photo journalism and online journalism within and outside Nigeria.

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