Atiku defends AUN, says every child belongs in school, not on the streets

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has defended the establishment of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), saying the institution was founded as a long-term investment in education and the development of Northern Nigeria rather than for commercial gain.

Atiku made the remarks on Friday in a post on his official X account while responding to concerns raised by a social media user over the growing number of children begging on Nigerian streets.

Expressing sympathy over the situation, the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate said the increasing presence of child beggars should concern every Nigerian.

“I understand your concern, @Oluwabunmi63697. The sight of children begging on our streets should trouble every Nigerian,” he wrote.

The former vice president explained that he deliberately chose Yola, Adamawa State, as the location for the university despite acknowledging that cities such as Abuja or Lagos would have offered greater financial returns.

“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. 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,” Atiku stated.

He also reiterated that the institution no longer belongs to him or his family, stressing that he had formally transferred ownership to the host 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 added.

Highlighting some of the university’s social impact initiatives, Atiku said AUN introduced the Feed and Read programme to provide vulnerable Almajiri children with daily meals while offering literacy and numeracy education.

He further noted that through the university’s Technology-Enhanced Learning for All initiative, more than 20,000 internally displaced children benefited from educational radio programmes designed to improve reading skills.

The former vice president also recalled AUN’s intervention after the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction, saying the university awarded scholarships to young women who escaped Boko Haram to enable them continue their education.

“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.

Reaffirming his long-held belief in education as a tool for national development, Atiku declared that every Nigerian child deserves access to learning instead of life 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.This version is written in a natural newsroom style, is SEO-friendly, avoids plagiarism, preserves all direct quotes exactly as posted, and is suitable for publication on an online news platform.