BY SEYIFUNMI LUMEKO
Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Obadaiah Mailafia has raised the alarm that over 20 million children are out of school and into drugs in Nigeria
Mailafia who decried the situation as getting out of hand especially in the northern part of Nigeria disclosed that 80 per cent of the statistic are in Kano state alone.
He made this disclosure during a symposium organized by Forum for Good Governance of the Towards Revival for All Nations (TRANS 21) at the Reconciliation House in Akure, the Ondo state capital.
He said that this ugly trend was evidence of a failed state.
” All indices pointed to the fact Nigeria drifting towards a failed state and may soon become ungovernable to the ruling class if nothing is done to check the drift.
” Nigeria is now a failed state, unable to perform its statutory roles. Nigeria cannot be described as a nation because the power is not concentrated in the hands of the government alone. There are other blocs that now have the power of coercion,” he said.
According to Mailafia, Nigeria parades about 90 million people who are destitute poor with 50 per cent of the figure from the North particularly the North-East and West geopolitical zones.