By Fredrick Nwabufo
Sir: A society which eats, debases and abuses its young is a coven run by witches. The almajiri children are innocents socialised into a culture and system they did not create. They are just unlucky to be born in an unfortunate axis of the world. They did not make their circumstances or their world; they were thrust into it. They live but are not given a life. They are programmed like hunter-robots to lead a life of the hunt – hunt for alms.
I witnessed the almajiri affliction during my stay in Kaduna and visits to Kano and Katsina years ago. This was long before the threat of banditry and kidnapping in the north. These street kids are cultured to hunt-beg. They demand, and they seem assured that it is the right thing to do. They could intrude on your privacy to demand alms without flinching. They are made bold in their quest by a society that has normalised such an existence.
I was always terrified seeing them around; life has been made a trifle for them, so they cared not about anything. It is the reason they could easily be deployed by politicians to cause riots and unrest. I knew a day of reckoning would come.
Alas! The nation’s capital is now grappling with its own almajiri problem. It is clear we cannot wish away the almajiri irritation. It is a northern Nigeria problem, but also a Nigeria challenge.
Really, these almajiri children are the victims of the situation!
Owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, governors of the north are returning almajiri children to their home states as if this measure will solve the problem. Besides this action constituting a violation of the rights of these children, it is also inhuman and tortuous. These children are often exploited for their ‘’political value’’, but there is calamity in the land now, so they can be expended like garbage.
After COVID-19 crisis what happens to these children, and the many being churned out by the atrocious almajiri system? What happens to the almajiri system? You cannot expel children from your state, yet sustain the system that produces the destitute.
Nigeria adopted the Child Rights Act (CRA) in 2003, a fine print which protects the rights of the child. But 11 states in the north are yet to adopt it — Bauchi, Yobe, Sokoto, Adamawa, Borno, Zamfara, Gombe, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa and Kano. Even those other eight states in the north which adopted the Act are not living by its standards. But adopting the CRA is a step – no doubt.
The almajiri challenge is one the northern establishment must find a solution to – adopting the Child Rights Act and implementing its provisions is a step in that direction. Any interference from the south or southern leadership will naturally elicit suspicion and a pushback. Northern leaders must run the gauntlet on this one.
- Fredrick Nwabufo,
Email: fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com
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