Analysis of Human Insecurity and School Dropout among Secondary School Girls in Nigeria: A Spatio-Sectoral Approach

It is well established that human security is intricately related to access to education, food and human dignity. However, almost 8 years after the launch of the National Strategy to End Child Marriage and Twenty-five years of the introduction of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme in Nigeria, girl children are either denied access to education or enroll, but drop out of school. The aim of this study is to determine how human insecurity relate to girl-child school dropout in Nigeria. The study utilized data from National Bureau of Statistics and National Population Commission, Abuja. The data covered the 36 states of Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory in 2021. ArcGIS software was used to evaluate the spatial pattern of girl child school dropout, while frequencies, tables, simple percentages and Ordinary Least Square techniques were used for analyses at p<0.05. The results showed that female school attendance in lower secondary school was highest in south-east (20.3%) and lowest in North-west (16. 4.%). The geopolitical zones with the highest girl child school dropout were Northwest (56.8%), North East (50.2%) and North-central (30.6%). Meanwhile, the North West in which female school attendance was low had the highest girl child school dropout. Girls’ child school dropout was significantly explained by 64% of the variation in girl child marriage, wealth quintile of households, food insecurity and feeling of safety (R2 = 0.644425, p<0.05). Girl-child marriage was a significant factor influencing girls school dropout in Nigeria (1.216; p<0.05). There was a weak positive relationship between the proportion of girls attending lower secondary school and feeling of safety (0.047890; p>0.4045).  The study concludes that girl child school dropout varies across the states of Nigeria and closely related to socioeconomic and cultural factors. These findings have implications for designing school retention strategies.   Received: 29 January 2023 / Accepted: 29 February 2024 / Published: 6 March 2024