THE STRONG REASON
A 2018 UNICEF report revealed a staggering increase in the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria, rising from 10.5 million to 13.2 million—the highest in the world. Alarmingly, 60% of these children are girls.
The majority of these children are located in northern Nigeria, where Boko Haram-induced insecurity has severely disrupted educational activities.
Left with no other options, many of these children are forced to survive on the streets, resorting to begging, street hawking, and, in some cases, engaging in criminal activities.
If this troubling trend is not urgently addressed, Nigeria risks facing a generational crisis with devastating consequences for its future.
THE STORY
In August 2013, while driving through the city of Warri, I experienced an encounter that forever changed my perspective. Stuck in traffic, a little boy—no older than 8 or 10—approached my car and began cleaning the windscreen with a worn piece of cloth.
His frail hands could barely reach the glass. Pale and visibly hungry, he came to my window and said, “Bros, abeg give me small money make I take chop food…”
A wave of compassion overwhelmed me. Before the traffic cleared, I quickly handed him a 500 Naira note and drove off. But his image lingered in my mind all day. This child should be in school, not on the streets, I thought.
It struck me that while the money might feed him for a day, what he truly needed was an education—a chance to escape the cycle of poverty and dependence.
That encounter inspired me to take action. By the end of that day, I resolved to launch a social impact initiative, no matter how small, to change the lives of children like him.
In 2013, alongside my team, we launched the Street2School Project, leveraging crowdfunding to sponsor 13 indigent inner-city children back to school.
Since its inception, the project has transformed the lives of over 500 out-of-school children across five states in Nigeria, helping them return to classrooms and reclaim their futures.
Our mission is clear: to provide access to basic education for at least 1 million underprivileged children across Nigeria and Africa.
Watch our video documentary.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela
Endorsement
Contact us
For more information on this initiative, please send an email to street2skool@treasurekalu.com