How Will Buhari Respond To Almajiri Crisis?

By Chuks Ekpeneru

The repatriation and apparent abandonment of Nigeria’s Almajiri population recently led the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to accuse the ruling All Progressive Congress of reversing the gains made by the preceding administration to give that segment of the society a better position in life.

Recall that the PDP administration of President Goodluck Jonathan spent N15 billion to build almajiri schools, with the aim of reducing street begging and integrating basic primary education into the almajiri system.

Jonathan 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.

However, not long after Jonathan left office many of the pupils in the Almajiri integrated model Schools returned to the streets to seek for alms and food as a means of survival when the present administration abandoned the initiative.

Out of power, Jonathan gave his reason for launching the programme. He said it was sad to find out that 80% of the 10.5 million children out of school were from the North.

The present focus on the Almajiri came in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic with many state governments evacuating them to their state of origin.

Unfortunately, most of the states do not have arrangements on how to receive and reintegrate them into the society.

This has prompted many of them to try sneaking into the southern part of the country, despite the lockdown in place.

However, with the fear of COVID-19, all the Southern governments have shut their doors sending the Almajiri back to where they are coming from.

This is even as some of the northern governors noted that some of the Almajiri kids deported from Kano State tested positive for COVID-19.

The almajiri system in Nigeria has attracted several commentaries, with majority saying it breeds youth poverty and delinquency.

Not long ago, Senator Adamu Aliero (APC – Kebbi Central) sponsored a motion in the Senate “The Need to Integrate Almajiri Education into Modern System of Education in Nigeria.”

Presenting his motion, he lauded the Jonathan administration for building Almajiri integrated model schools.

The senator, however, lamented that some of the structures are either lying fallow or put into different uses from what they were built for.

Elder Statesman, Tanko Yakasai, made similar observation. He said there are more problems in the north because the administration of President Buhari did not fund the Almajiri schools.

The National Security Adviser, Brig. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd.) espoused a similar caution that the government cannot continue to overlook the threat posed by the Almajiri system of education in Nigeria.

Speaking at the launch of the revised National Security Strategy for 2019, Monguno said:

“The issue of illiteracy is directly linked to the issue of children not going to school.

“This Almajiri phenomenon which we have been talking about, we cannot continue to push it under the carpet because eventually it will come back to bite us.

“We need to deal with this issue and it is the responsibility of all of us to try and take care of this issue without any inhibition.

The present situation perhaps offers the Buhari administration another opportunity to squarely look at the issue and address it from the roots.

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