By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS, Nigeria
Along with a death toll estimated in the tens of thousands, education, too, has been a casualty of the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria's volatile northeastern region.
In an effort to remedy the situation, Babazanna Abdulkarim, a resident of Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State, has launched his own initiative – dubbed “Schoopreneurship” – aimed at getting the region’s numerous truant children back into school.
“The area I come from has always lagged behind in terms of education and development,” Abdulkarim told Anadolu Agency.
“This has been further compounded by the Boko Haram insurgency, with schools being closed and turned into camps for people displaced by the violence," he said.
"There’s a dire need to rescue our people and society,” added Abdulkarim. “And education is the most important way to realize human potentialities."
Targeting schools
Since its terror campaign began some six years ago, Boko Haram has repeatedly targeted schools.
The most spectacular example of this occurred in April of last year, when the group abducted scores of schoolgirls from their dormitory in Borno State’s town of Chibok.
The mass abduction, along with several similar – if smaller – incidents, sent shockwaves across the region, prompting parents to keep their children at home and leading to numerous schools being shut.
According to the Nigerian government, over 900 schools in the region have been destroyed in recent years and 176 teachers killed by Boko Haram militants.
"The militants have campaigned against school attendance and have often resorted to targeting schools," Abubakar Muazu, a local expert on Boko Haram told Anadolu Agency.
"It’s been a victory of sorts for the militant group, which claims to oppose western education," he added.
The insurgency has led to an education crisis in Nigeria’s northeast, which is now considered the country’s most "educationally disadvantaged" region.
According to official figures, the northeastern region currently accounts for some 30 percent of Nigeria's roughly 10.5 million truant children.
- Entrepreneurship meets education
Abdulkarim’s “Schoopreneurship” initiative hopes to provide a solution by helping local poor people launch small-scale enterprises, the proceeds of which can then be used to enroll children in school.
Beneficiaries of the scheme are given a $325 loan – enough to buy 100 young chicks and enough feed to rear them for six weeks.
"The loan is interest-free and repaid in a very flexible manner, with little pressure on the beneficiary," explained Abdulkarim. “Instead of paying back interest on the loan, children can be provided with an education.”
Abubakar Shettima, a young man from the northeastern region with a large family to support, was the initiative’s first beneficiary. As a result, his six-year-old daughter, Aisha, is now attending classes.
"We are also building cages [for poultry] that will be used to empower 100 people, mostly women, who have been displaced by the violence,” said Abdulkarim. “This, in turn, will allow 100 kids to enroll in school."
Abdulkarim is funding his initiative with his own personal savings, along with assistance from two of his friends.
One of these friends, businessman Musa Zira, described Schoopreneurship as "our own way of lending a hand to our people, especially women and children displaced from their homes by Boko Haram."
"It is about empowering poor people through entrepreneurship, while also helping our young ones get an education,” he told Anadolu Agency.
According to Zira, a number of people have already expressed interest in the novel initiative.
"It’s our hope that the children who we help go to school will develop a similar mindset when they see their guardians practicing self-reliance,” he said.
“Hopefully,” he added, “our society will be better for it."
