Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Has Defended His Record on Education

The former Vice-President responded on Friday after an X user, shared a photograph of children carrying begging bowls and challenged him over the situation. "Have you ever addressed this, sir? You were VP for 8 years, these innocent children are in your region and you couldn't do anything to stop this calamity, the user wrote.

Responding, Atiku said the sight of children begging on the streets should concern every Nigerian, while citing initiatives of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), which he established in Yola, Adamawa State. "I understand your concern. The sight of children begging on our streets should trouble every Nigerian, Atiku wrote.

He said establishing the university in Yola rather than commercially stronger locations such as Abuja or Lagos was part of his effort to contribute to the development of the region. "I established the American University of Nigeria as a practical investment in education and the development of the North. If profit had been my primary motivation, I could easily have located the university in Abuja or Lagos, where the commercial advantages would have been greater," he said.

Atiku said his decision to establish AUN in Yola was motivated by a desire to create opportunities and expand access to quality education in the North-East. "I chose Yola because I wanted to invest in my people, create opportunities, and bring world-class education closer to a region that had long needed greater access and development," he added. The ADC candidate also disputed the perception that AUN was his personal or family property, saying he had transferred ownership of the institution to the community.

"And as I have publicly stated before, this university is not my personal property or that of my family. I have already signed a deed of gift transferring it to the community. AUN belongs to the community it was established to serve," he said.

Atiku further cited the university's Feed and Read programme, which he said provides vulnerable Almajiri children with daily meals while teaching them literacy and numeracy. He also said the university's Technology-Enhanced Learning for All initiative had helped more than 20,000 internally displaced children learn to read through educational radio programmes. Atiku also pointed to the university's response to the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls in 2014, saying scholarships were awarded to some of the girls who escaped Boko Haram.

"Following the Chibok tragedy in 2014, seven years after I left office, AUN awarded scholarships to young women who had escaped Boko Haram, giving them an opportunity to rebuild their lives through education," he said. In 2014, reports confirmed that 15 girls who escaped the Chibok abduction were offered scholarships at AUN. Atiku said his approach to addressing the plight of vulnerable children had remained centred on education, insisting that children should not be left to fend for themselves on the streets.

"My conviction remains simple: every child belongs in a classroom, not on the street with a begging bowl. Whether in government or outside it, I have always sought to turn that conviction into practical action," he said. The exchange followed Atiku's recent criticism of the economic hardship in the country, in which he argued that worsening living costs were pushing young Nigerians into desperate situations.