By Raphael Izokpu
In the past one week or so, most Northern Nigeria Governors have evacuated almajiri children (street urchins) from their States to their States of origin. Even Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said he would send such children in his State back to the North.
This action followed a decision by 19 Northern State Governors at their meeting in Jos, Plateau State recently where they took a look at the dangers the system had exposed children in the region, especially in the face of global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and decided to ban it.
Chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, in a statement after the meeting, said the governors “vowed never to allow the system to persist any longer because of the social challenges associated with it including the perpetuation of poverty, illiteracy, insecurity and social disorder.”
Last year, there were reports that government might ban the almajiri school system. This followed strong opinion against it by some Northern leaders, notably the now deposed emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi II.
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had at the 108th edition of Islamic Vocation Course (IVC), described the almajiri system as religious and social issue that needs urgent attention.
He advised parents to give birth to the number of children they could cater for.
“If we continue this way, about 40 per cent extremely poor people will be in Nigeria. Poverty in the South West is 20 per cent, in the North, it is 80 per cent, Lagos is eight per cent and Zamfara, it is 91 per cent. We have been talking about almajri for over 30 years. Why are people having family that they cannot maintain? Why are people marrying wives that they cannot maintain? The condition is that you are able to provide for your family.
“Instead of having many children, why not have the ones you can cater for? These are the fundamental questions we should ask ourselves. Most of these children roaming about the streets will be adult in the next 20 years and they will be the ones recruited as political thugs by the politicians in the next 20 years, if we don’t take good care of them now. This is my own advice that we must look at. These are not religious issues, they are social issues that need to be addressed,” Sanusi advised.
This was what informed the report that the Federal Government might ban the almajiri school system, and arrest parents who denied their children basic education.
But Federal Government denied this. Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement, said ban on Almajiri would follow due process and consultation with relevant authorities.
”Indeed, the Federal Government wants a situation where every child of primary school age is in school rather than begging on the streets during school hours. At the same time, we don’t want to create panic or a backlash,” Shehu said.
The almajiri school system, according to Wikipedia, began in Kanem-Borno, a town in North East Nigeria, where majority of its rulers were involved in Quranic education. This was more than 700 years before Sokoto caliphate was founded.
Almajiri is from Arabic word, “al-Muhajirun” which means someone who leaves his home in search of Islamic knowledge.
Its form and nature has changed now, from the original concept. According to Wikipedia, all the almajiri schools then were “in a close proximity with the immediate environment of the students. Inspectors were introduced to go round the schools, and after inspection, they report to the emir of the province all the matters regarding the affairs of the school.
“The schools were funded by the community, parents, zakah, sadaqqah and sometimes through the farm output of the students.”
The twist however, started in 1904 with the invasion of British colonialists of northern Nigeria, resulting in the introduction of western education (Boko) in place of Quranic instruction.
Consequently, “the British abolished the state funding of almajiri schools. With no support from the community, emirs and government, the system collapsed. The teachers and students had no financial support, so, they turned to alms begging and menial jobs for survival,” this was how Wikipedia explained it.
For over one hundred years, northern leaders did not see anything wrong with the almajiri system. Instead, they exploited the situation to their economic and political advantage.
The almajiri children, as Mallam Sanusi pointed, were used as political thugs against known and imagery opponents. They were potent agents during religious riots and other disturbances in the region.
The National Council for the Welfare of the Destitute (NCWD) estimated that there are about seven million almajiri pupils in Nigeria. These children grew up without future or any means of livelihood, and could therefore be used to achieve social and political purposes.
The identity of the over 300 boys and men rescued at an Islamic school in Kaduna in November 2019 by the police, further showed other purposes the almajiris were used for. It was revealed that some of these children come from neighboring West African countries of Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali. These were the people counted as Nigerian citizens during elections and census.
The decision of the northern governors to ban the system and return the children to their parents and states of origin will create another problem to the Nigerian nation. The haste at which the decision was taken and its execution will breed grave consequence in future. The question is, is this the best approach? Definitely not.
Between 2010 and 2015 when he left office, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration constructed and equipped about 157 Almajiri Model Schools across the northern states. These schools were abandoned and the equipment allowed to decay immediately the All Progressives Congress (APC) came to office in 2015.
The aim of Jonathan’s administration in building the almajiri modern schools was to integrate the old school system into modern education. Apart from the construction of school blocks, there were boarding facilities, staff quarters, laboratories and plant houses, to allow for conducive teaching and learning.
Different schools were built for both boys and girls. This apparently, was to return the system to its precolonial era and improve standard. This was unfortunately defeated, for political reasons, and the buildings allowed to dilapidated.
Why did the northern governors abandon this noble project and opt to push the children back to the streets? Are they not aware of the social and security implications, especially now that there is high rate of kidnapping, banditry, terrorism and other associated crimes in the country?
Northern region, since 2009, has been the hotbed of terrorism. Boko Harm insurgents operating in the North East have seen the army of jobless and ill-educated northern youths as ready materials for recruitment into their fold. Kidnappers and cattle rustlers have made life unsafe and unbearable for people in the North West while Fulani herdsmen have sacked many villagers from their ancestral homes in the North Central.
This is the same society northern governors are sending the almajiri children who are without hope and future, into.
The National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno, in December last year, warned of the security challenges the almajiri system posed to the Nigerian nation. This is because the illiteracy the system breeds is a fertile ground for recruitment into criminal activities.
As the NSA observed, “the issue of insurgency in the North East is directly linked to the issue of terrorism in the Sahel which is an increasingly volatile neighborhood ….
“But rooted in the strategy are issues that may not be visible to the naked eye, but issues that have tended to be malignant to cause a lot of greater problems to this society.”
This issue is the almajiri system, which the Northern governors thought that by abolishing the system and sending the children back to their parents and states of origin they have solved the problem.
It is only unfortunate that the governors simply identified the challenges associated with the system without offering a solution. Like Shakespeare would say, they “have scotched the snake, not killed it: she’ll close and be herself….”
They have also overlooked the root cause of the problem, which is parents bearing the number of children they can adequately cater for. This equally include child marriage, which is very rampant in the region.
To effectively and comprehensively deal with the issue of almajiri system, the governors should pass a legislation banning child marriages, people marrying wives they could not take care of and restricting parents from bearing the number of children they could cater for.
Poverty is prevalent in the North because of illiteracy. This is another area the governors should pay attention. An educated man has the capability to create wealth while an uneducated man is a danger to the society.
The Governors should create environment for improved education, access to quality health care, increased productivity and crime fighting, which unfortunately, the abolition of the almajiri system without alternative did not guarantee.