COVID-19: Almajiris, Rejected Home And Away

By Chuks Ekpeneru

The recent resolution of Northern Governors to evacuate Almajiris in their states has again shown the rejection of the system of holding children in poverty and penury under the guise of Islamic education.

A reasonable number of the Almajiris being relocated have been discovered to be positive for COVID-19.

In Kaduna State, spokesman to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Muyiwa Adekeye confirmed that 67 Almajiri children who were recently deported from Kano State were positive of the dreaded virus.

This has prompted some states to lock the door against this vulnerable group of people. Taraba State turned back about 100 of them back to Nasarawa State saying that the protocol for the relocation was not followed.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had also recently alleged what it claimed as a plot to use Almajiri to spread coronavirus in the South East.

IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said those behind the evil plot are currently pursuing its actualisation under the guise of repatriation of almajiri to their home states.

In Abia State, Homeland Security agents led by the Commissioner for Homeland Security, Prince Dan Okoli intercepted some Almajiris hidden in cattle trucks at Enugu-Abia border, along the Enugu – Aba Highway.

A release by the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi-Kalu, explained that overnight, several trucks conveying food items with several Almajiris hidden in them were turned back at the state border.

Similarly, about 19 persons from Sokoto State on the way to Ondo were intercepted at Oyo State.

With the different states hard hit by COVID-19, the Northern Governors Forum, NGF, resolved to take a cue from Kano State to return Almajiri children to their respective states of origin to curb the spread of the virus across the region.

The resolution came at the end of the governors’ teleconference chaired by Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau state.

The resolution prompted the Taraba state government to reject 100 almajiri children repatriated from Nasarawa state over “flouting of the procedure” agreed by the Northern Governors Forum (NGF).

Also the Nasarawa State Government announced the return of 788 almajiri children to their home states.

Not too long ago, the deposed Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi had raised alarm of the danger to the North of the continuous existence of the Almajiri system.

At that time the now panicky governors did not give him heed.

The royal father, who also kicked against “criminalising the Almajiri” or street urchins, noted that the system thrives on the back of failed family values where fathers are expected to be responsible for their children’s upkeeps

So far, the only genuine effort to address the problem of the Almajiri system was made by former President Goodluck Jonathan, who spent a whopping N15 billion to build almajiri schools, with the aim of reducing street begging and integrating basic primary education into the almajiri system.

The former President launched the programme on April 10, 2012 at Gagi in Sokoto State, where he registered 25 pupils in the new model boarding school, equipped with modern facilities. A total of 157 of such schools were completed and commissioned before June, 2015.

However, the programme has been abandoned and some of the schools converted to conventional basic educational institutions, while some lay waste because the pupils have returned to their old ways, roaming the streets for alms.

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