PROGNOSIS FOR OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN IN NIGERIA AND CHALLENGES OF INSECURITY

Abstract

Insecurity has been major bane of Nigeria's socio-economic cum political bugbear for over many decades. It has reached unimaginable crescendo that insurgents perpetrate their dastardly act using children as tool. On the flipside, insecurity has beclouded Nigeria and forced large chunk of children out of school there by exposing and forcing them into social malaise in the society. Marx theory of state becomes our game changer in theoretical analysis. For Marxist, the dominant economic class, used as an instrument of exploitation and agency of class coercion, state was formed to protect the private property of economically dominant class and also considered as the symbol of injustice. The failure of the instrumentality of the state to  positively affect and protect the lives of the citizenry is the bedrock of insecurity and insurgency in Nigeria. The materials for the study were sourced from primary and secondary sources. The study recommends that Nigerian government as a matter of urgency must uphold relevant sections of the 1999 constitution as amended that relates to education and implement its UNESCO agreement in setting aside of 26% of her annual budget for the funding of education in which she is signatory to. Premium assistance and attention to education in Nigeria is inevitable. Aggressively addressing the above myriad challenges is a significant milestone in stampeding ignorance and illiteracy bearing in mind that education is the gateway to human development in the society.