Govt Should Control Child Birth In North – Emir of Kano

Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, has suggested that government at all levels should try to regulate the child bearing in the northern part of the country to reduce the alarming rate of children out of schools syndrome in the region.

The former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria revealed that though people are blaming parents for their inability to send their children to schools, without researching the cause of the problem, and to seek solution to eradicate it.

“They kept on blaming people for letting their children to walk on the street without having education. In fact the parents have responsibilities. The greatest responsibility is that parent should all try not to produce children that they cannot cater for.

“If they don’t have enough money, they should not go and marry three wives or more in order to produce twenty or more children. We should try to regulate that aspect of child bearing in our areas, if this must stop.

“But apart from that, we need to focus more on the fact that we have not supplied the demand that our education needs. We have to look at the weakness in the system, and to realise that blaming people for not educating their children, but to look for solution.

In another development, he remarked that funding of education is the responsibility of the private and public sector, adding that there were many rich northerners and rich Muslims, few of them have made funding at the basic level a priority.

“Some of them have private schools, what we need is foundation that will make it possible for those who cannot afford to educate their children to give then very good primary and secondary education.

“If give then very good primary and secondary education, they can come to Nile University and get scholarships and have their degrees. But we need to focus at the bottom of the pyramid, at the very early stages of education.

“We need funding. We need the government and rich people in Nigeria to fund the education. And that funding is to go into schools, training of teachers, and scholarship for the poor pupils that will cover their tuitions, accommodation, transportation and feeding. This is where the problem lies with education in Nigeria.”