Ango Abdullahi, chairman of the Northern Elders’ Forum, on Tuesday said northern Nigeria has 80 per cent of the country’s 20 million out-of-school children and requires more budgetary allocation to fund education in the region.

Mr Abdullahi, a former vice chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said this at the Government-Citizens Engagement Forum organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation in Kaduna on Tuesday.

“We have 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria—80 per cent of them are from Northern Nigeria. If just half of the N15 trillion national budget were allocated to education, we would have no child out of school,” Mr Abdullahi said. “That money would provide schools, teachers, and equipment.”

According to Mr Abdullahi, the out-of-school menace is not just a Northern problem; it is a national disaster; an uneducated population is a threat to all.

The NEF chairman also lamented the state of roads across northern regions, saying,

“Some of the roads are not just bad—they don’t even exist. You can’t talk about national development when a whole region remains disconnected. There must be an intentional drive to fix our roads if we are serious about equity.”

He added, “Let’s be serious. If we use N7.5 trillion for education and N7.5 trillion for roads in the North, we’d solve two of our biggest problems.”

Mr Abdullahi raised questions about the recent relocation of key departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria from Abuja to Lagos and other developments that did not favour the northern region, adding that the NEF will officially write to President Bola Tinubu over the issues.

“Why the sudden relocation of CBN departments? Why the mass retirements? And why were 15 new directors recently employed, with only four from Northern Nigeria?” he asked, adding, “These are not coincidences. They are decisions with consequences, and the North is watching.”

Speaking further, Mr Abdullahi said, “If we truly want to develop Nigeria, then Northern Nigeria must be industrialised in line with its natural strengths—agriculture being one.”

He added, “It is time to spread development. Northern Nigeria cannot continue to serve only as a food basket without also being a value-adding zone.”

The NEF chair charged political stakeholders and civil society groups to speak against marginalisation.

“We can no longer afford to be passive. If we do not speak up and insist on fairness, the marginalisation will continue, and our children will inherit a more broken and divided nation,” Mr Abdullahi said.