The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Almajiris

  • New Horizons targets 1m Almajiris for tech empowerment

    New Horizons targets 1m Almajiris for tech empowerment

    New Horizons Nigeria has unveiled its Almajiri-to-tech initiative aimed at empowering Almajiris and turning them into computer technicians in 90 days.

    Chief Executive Officer of New Horizons Nigeria, Tim Akano disclosed this during the launch of the training programme for 21 Almajiris in Abuja on Monday.

    He said through the initiative, the company hopes to remove one million Almajiris from the streets across Nigeria and equip them with essential digital skills in the next one year.

    Akano explained that the initiative is designed to empower the participants by transforming them into computer technicians within 90-days, tagged, ”From the streets to technicians in 90 days.”

    Akano, who revealed that the training package costs the institute N50million, added that it covers the costs of training, food, clothes, logistics and tools for all the trained Almajiris.

    He said besides Abuja being the pilot programme, the training would be extended to Kano, Kaduna, Zamafara and other parts of the country.

    The New Horizons Nigeria boss underscored the need to move from heavy expenditure on security measures to strategic investments in social development, arguing that success in this effort would significantly reduce the vast sums currently spent on tackling insecurity.

    He added that his estimates indicate that empowering Almajiris could boost Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) by as much as $20 billion within the next 14 to 15 months.

    He said: “If we win this battle, the billions of naira or dollar we spend in fighting insecurity, we don’t need to be spending that billions again, because my calculation shows that if we empower the Almajiri, we can grow our GDP to up to $20 billion in the next 14 or 15 months.

    “The population we have today 15 million Almajiris, and at the birth rate of 3.0 every year. If nothing is done by 2030 we are going to have 30 million Almajiris, which means Abuja where the elite hide today will also become inhabitable.”

    Also speaking, Chairman, Board of Trustees, People Expertise and Excellence Foundation, Engr. Abdullahi Bukar, commended New Horizons Nigeria for what he described as a bold and timely initiative capable of addressing both social exclusion and national security challenges.

    He noted that empowering Almajiris with practical digital skills would not only provide them with sustainable livelihoods but also integrate them productively into the economy, reducing vulnerability to crime and extremism.

    Read Also: Educating the Almajiris

    Bukar stressed that the government alone cannot solve the Almajiri challenge, calling for stronger collaboration between the private sector, civil society organisations and relevant government agencies.

    According to him, initiatives such as the Almajiri-to- tech programme demonstrated how targeted skills development can serve as a long-term solution to poverty and insecurity, urging policymakers to support and scale similar interventions nationwide.

    He further appealed to development partners and well-meaning Nigerians to invest in human capital development, particularly among vulnerable groups, describing it as a critical pathway to national stability and economic growth.

    Bukar expressed confidence that with sustained support and effective coordination, the programme could transform lives and contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s quest for inclusive development.

    Also speaking, Founder, Girl Child Concern, Dr. Mairo Mandara described the initiative as a practical model for addressing vulnerability among disadvantaged children through skills acquisition and empowerment.

    She stressed that equipping Almajiris with digital competencies would enhance their self-reliance and dignity, while also contributing to broader efforts to promote social inclusion and national development, calling on stakeholders to sustain and replicate the programme across the country.

    Mandara warned that failure to train and empower them could turn the situation into a ticking time bomb with serious consequences.

    One of the participants, Fatima Umar, expressed gratitude to New Horizons and its partners for the opportunity.

    Umar, who spoke on behalf of the trainees, said that the training would give participants hope for a better future and valuable skills that would enable them to become self-reliant, while pledging their commitment to making good use of the knowledge acquired and contributing positively to society.

  • Educating the Almajiris

    Educating the Almajiris

    The decision of the Ministry of Education to collaborate with the National Commission for Almajiri and Out of School Children Education (NCAOOSCE), to mop-up out of school children around the federal capital territory and send them to school, points the way for states afflicted by similar challenge. The report indicated that the new Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, and NCAOOSCE, formally handed over the children to the FCT for enrolment. This is refreshingly different, from what looked like the flagship program of the former Minister of Education, who expended his energy on how old a child should be, before he or she, can enrol in the university.

    From hindsight, the sacked minister, Professor Tahir Mamman, would wish he had concentrated on this ‘Back2School’ enrolment drive which he had launched earlier in the year. The collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, will see the children get absorbed into schools, at no cost to the parents. This enrolment, if pushed to a logical conclusion, will help rid the FCT, of child beggars, who are mainly, Almajiri children, that also constitute security challenges.

    Hopefully, similar collaboration would take place in the states. Even if the minister and NCAOOSCE have to pressure the state governors, the federal government should extend the program across the states. According to the UNICEF, there is a whopping 18.3 million children between 6 and 14 years, who are out-of-school in 2024. Among the states with the highest numbers, include Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2023, Yobe has the lowest literacy level of 7.23 percent, followed by Zamfara at 19.16 percent, Katsina 10.36 at percent and Sokoto 15.01 at percent.

    One report indicates that Kano has 39 percent out-of-school children, higher than the national average of 28.7 percent. Kano is reputed as the most politically conscious state in what is popularly regarded as the core-north. Truly, over the years, the state has trodden its own political part, regardless of what is happening in other states in the northwest zone. Hopefully, Kano, one of the most afflicted by the Almajiri crisis, would key into this project.

    This column urges political leaders, especially in the educationally blighted states to make the education of the out-of-school children the cornerstone of their political manifesto. For instance, Yobe State last year, by one account, budgeted less than 10 percent of the 2023 Budget, for education, unlike Sokoto and Kano which allocated about 30 percent to education in their respect budgets. If the allocation, which is higher than the UNESCO benchmark of 26 percent, is maintained over the years, the out-of-school children will diminish, in those states.

    Trump trumps pollsters

    As the result of the United States of America’s elections rolled in the penultimate week, this writer who had relied on the so-called renowned pollsters to predict that Kamala Harris would win the US presidential election was flummoxed as Trump trumped the prediction. If it were in Nigeria, the headlines would have read, ‘Trump wins by landslide’.  While the results were trailing in and this writer was expressing surprise, the office secretary, dismissed my exertions in one sentence: “Oga, you listen too much to CNN”.

    Read Also: FG to provide free housing for 77,400 vulnerable Nigerians – Dangiwa

    Perhaps she is right. For in the past few months to the election, the televisions, at home and in the office, had been tuned near permanently to the Cable Network, to hear how the electioneering campaign in US, was progressing. And the predictions have been that Kamala Harris was surging forward while former President Donald Trump was reclining. One pollster, who claimed to have predicted 10 out of 11 past elections correctly, boasted that Kamala was going to win Trump.

    One CNN pundit after another told us why Kamala would win, even though she entered the race late, and the odds were initially against her. And I believed. Interestingly, after the election, I discovered that many around me were actually happy that Trump won the election. The Catholics were excited that Trump defeated Kamala hands down, even though President Joe Biden, her godfather is a Catholic. Other Christians told me that the promoters of the infamous LGBTQ have been defeated. Many used unprintable words to describe Biden and Kamala’s support for LGBTQ.

    Any argument that while one abjures the crazy concepts promoted by the LGBTQ folks, the potential danger posed by a Trump presidency is far more dangerous to the world is met with complete scorn. The argument that Trump hates other races, especially the blacks, is countered with the argument that he has an Arab in-law who occasionally lives in Nigeria. When one raised the danger of ‘America first’; the question is, ‘before nko?’ The supporters wonder whether as USA president, Trump is expected to put Nigeria first? When one argues that US is the policeman of the world order, the next question is, at what cost to Americans? 

    While the jury as to the wisdom of Americans, in choosing Donald Trump, as their 47th president, has four years to sit, there is the claim that the president-elect is choosing strange characters, as his secretaries and top administration staff. Some of his nominees are reputed to have parochial or little knowledge about the position they would occupy, if cleared by the Congress. 

    There is the allegation that he even wants to circumvent the standard process, of having his nominees cleared by the Congress, by resorting to a rarely used legislative process, provided for during emergencies, when the Congress is on recess for a long time. Again, the worried German and French leaders, at their recent meeting, discussed how to contain the emergence of Trump, who in his previous incarnation as president, insisted that Europe must carry its load, instead of leaving it for Uncle Sam, the USA.

    One wonders whether the Trump presidency would be as turbulent as many pundits are predicting. After my recent failure as a pollster, I am wondering if I am again, listening to CNN, more than I should?

    Congratulations Ndi Enugu

    The emergence of Chidimma Onwe Adetshina, as first runner up, of the Miss Universe 2024 pageant, in Mexico, brought joy to the Enugu State governor, Peter Mbah, and most people of the state. Governor Mbah, who has promised to increase and multiply, the state economy, many folds, described her emergence as reaffirming the resilience, brilliance, and determination that define Ndi Enugu.

    Chidimma who passed through the valley of the shadow of death in South Africa on her way, to participate in the pageant, deserves all the accolades coming her way.

  • Kebbi will partner NGOs to curb Almajiris – Commissioner

    The Kebbi State Government has expressed readiness to  partner with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to curb the menace of Almajiris in all the 21 local government areas of the state.

    The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Tsahara Bawa, made this known when she received members of Almajiris Support Initiative of Nigeria (ASIN) Kebbi state chapter, Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday.

    “The current state of the Almajiris portends real and existential threat that if left unchecked, could have profound consequences.

    “Addressing the menace is not the sole responsibility of the government, all hands should be on deck in order to have a holistic redress of the problem.

    “Some Almajiris systems have religious and cultural connection and government has found it difficult to address it without the involvement of all the stakeholders in the state,’’ she said.

    Earlier, the State Chairman of the NGO, Alhaji Shehu Umar, said that the only way to keep Almajiri children off the streets was by improving their status of their condition and provide them with sound Islamic and Western education.

    “We should also empower them and their teachers (Malams) with vocational skills as well as healthcare services,” he urged.

    Read Also: 15 cow traders die in auto crash in Kebbi

    According to him, the association has established a vocational centre for the Almajiris in Birnin Kebbi aimed at monitoring the activities of the Almajiris and training them on skills acquisition ventures.

    He said the almajiris were trained in carpentry, welding, tailoring, knitting, counseling as well as education to support their quest for self reliance and keep them off the streets.

    Umar said the centre was established in 2002, adding that it had graduated over 400 almajiris, apart from many others attached to various trade centres to learn how to be self reliant.

    “We relate with all categories of almajiris; from the blind, cripple and others with physical deformities, part of what we do is teaching them handicrafts and other trades,” he said.

    The chairman called on government and the well-to- do individuals to support the initiative by funding or providing materials to complement efforts of the association.

    He said the group lacked permanent office accommodation, enough training facilities and transportation to expand its scope of activities.

  • Almajiris: We are indirectly breeding crime – Sani-Bello

    Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello yesterday warned of the imminent danger that faces the nation with the large number of children roaming the streets in the country especially in the north.

    He said in a bit to prevent crime, the nation is indirectly breeding crime.

    Speaking at the Inter-faith Dialogue and Engagement organised by the Development Initiative of West Africa and the Kukah Centre held in Minna yesterday, Bello said the number of children roaming the streets across the nation is becoming alarming and must be addressed.

    “It is sad that while we are trying to prevent crime in the country, we are breeding it indirectly. We must be concerned with the number of children roaming the streets. The danger is that the next generation we are breeding are generations of children on the street. With these children, we are breeding danger, particularly in this present dispensation.”

    The governor, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Religious Affairs, Mallam Ahmad Tanko, opined that the reason why most children are still on the street is because parents have failed in the discharge of their responsibilities.

    “Let us all go back and resume our responsibility as parents. We have to take responsibility and stop our children from roaming the streets. We have not discharged our responsibility as parents; that is why our children are on the streets.

    “These children do not know the comfort of a bed; they do not know the comfort of clean water or the comfort of parents. They are born and thrown into the streets. Let us go back and take back our responsibilities as parents.”

    He added that there is nothing wrong with the nation that cannot be cured, stressing that the success of Nigeria lies on the shoulders of every citizen.

    In his address, the Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah said that whether the nation likes it or not, the next owners and leaders of the nation are the Almajiris and the youths, who roam aimlessly in the streets.

    He urged Nigerians to put behind the past and forge ahead for the peace and unity of the nation, stressing that there is a lot the nation can do as a unified body.”

  • Why more almajiris in Kano

    Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has said there are more almajiri in Kano because there is no legislation outlawing their itinerancy.

    Ganduje spoke while receiving the Project Director of Khalifa Dankadai Foundation, a local Non-Governmental Organisation, Khalifa Mustafa Dankadai, in his office. He said the influx of child beggars to the state was obstructing the government’s development plans.

    “At the moment, Kano has the highest number of almajiri and from statistics we got, their number is equal to, if not more than those attending formal schools”, he said.

    The governor hinted that he presented a proposal to his northern counterparts on how to integrate these  almajiris into the formal education system to enhance their intellectual and moral capacity.

  • 20,000 ‘Almajiris’ renounce begging in Katsina –Official

    No fewer than 20,000 pupils of Quranic schools popularly known as ‘Almajirai’ in Katsina State have renounced street begging following the introduction of free school feeding and vocational programme by the state government. The Senior Special Assistant to the state governor on Almajirai Affairs, Malam Lawal Mani Gambarawa, leading members of the feeding committee on a courtesy visit to Governor Ibrahim Shema that the scheme has been a tremendous success in the last seven months. The 20,000 pupils are from the 100 Quranic schools selected for the pilot scheme across the 34 local government areas of the state. Gambarawa explained that 38 schools were selected from Katsina Senatorial Zone, while Funtua and Daura senatorial zones had 30 and 33 schools respectively. He said that the programme was aimed at improving the living condition of the pupils, curtailing street begging, and training the affected youths on vocational skills to make them self-reliant

  • Almajiris giving us headache, says Sambo

    The over 9 million Almajiris in Northern Nigeria pose great challenge to the current administration, Vice President Namadi Sambo, said yesterday.

    He also disclosed that the federal government has built and equipped 89 Tsangaya schools.

    Another 39 built by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) are in various stages of completion, Sambo added.

    He spoke in Buzaye in Bauchi Local Government Area while inaugurating Buzaye Islamiyyah Model Boarding School.

    Sambo explained that the federal government introduced the Tsangaya, Special Vocational and Girl-child Schools to address the problem of out-of-school children.

    The Tsangaya school system, he said, was fashioned out to accommodate those opposed to Western education.

    Sambo also charged state governments, especially the 19 Northern states, to duplicate the efforts of the federal government.

    He assured that “government is unwavering in its determination to provide education to all Nigerians’’.

    Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda, said: “In the next five years with the Tsangaya education system in place, Northern states will be highly educated, developed and secured.

    “About 220 Tsangaya schools have been established in Bauchi State and 35,531 Almajiri students have been enrolled in the schools”.

    “We also want to assure the people of the state that if the revenue allocation of the state improves with Federal government continued commitment to the programme, the numbers of the Tsangaya schools will be increased in the state”.

  • Almajiris will begin school by September, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said urchins, popularly called Almajiris, will be taken off the streets and enrolled in schools by September.

    Jonathan, who was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, spoke in Lafia, theNasarawa State capital, at the inauguration of the Ta’al Model Primary School, built by the state government.

    He said of the 143 Almajiri model schools being built in the North, 120 had been completed.

    “We agreed at the last Economic Council meeting that by September, we would have all the less-privileged children participating and learning in all these schools,” the President said.

    Jonathan hailed Governor Umaru al-Makura for his commitment to the education sector in line with the Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government.

    He said Nigeria had about 9.5 million less privileged children without the opportunity to go to school, hence the government was committed to give them the opportunity to attend school.

    The President stressed that besides providing the infrastructure in the schools, the Federal Government had approved the provision of free textbooks and uniforms to all the pupils.

    Dr Jonathan said the government would also provide laboratory and other teaching and learning aids in the schools.

    He assured Nasarawa State of the Federal Government’s continuous partnership through the provision of counterpart fund under the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme.

    al-Makura said the inauguration of the model school marked the commencement of the new UBE-ICT Education Policy in the state’s primary and junior secondary schools.

    “I believe that this will accelerate the acquisition of computer literacy in our schools and lay the foundation for the turn-around of the fortunes and prosperity of basic education,” he said.

     

  • Almajiris and the scourge of Boko haram

    Almajiris and the scourge of Boko haram

    SIR: The Boko Haram menace did not start in a day. The adage that says “An idle hand is the devils workshop” rings true with the case of the Almajiri’s. How can parents who give birth to children throw them to the streets to fend for their selves? Instead of sending them to proper schools, they are enrolled in Arabic teaching centres where they are taught about Islam. Islamic clerics who are supposed to act as teachers and mentors use the opportunity to introduce radical beliefs thereby brainwashing these pupils as tools of violence that then go about killing innocent people and being suicidal in nature.

    The meaning of the name ‘Almajiri’-implies Islamic student. For those of us fortunate to have lived in the north, we see these Almajiri’s in large numbers loitering around the streets wearing tattered clothes with bowl in their hands looking for the next available meal. The question is, if these young kids grow up, what will be their fate?

    They see the rich getting richer (who send their children to the best schools at home and abroad). The state government and religious leaders of the north are to be held responsible for this dereliction of duty where lack of proper enlightenment of the masses on health and welfare, benefits of family planning, provision of educational institutions have been neglected by those entrusted to govern these regions. Yet, they use government funds meant for the citizens of the state to enrich themselves and are now wondering how Boko Haram has become a menace.

    • Babajide Awobiyi

    Sabo-Yaba, Lagos.

     

  • Almajiris acquire skills in Katsina

    Almajiris acquire skills in Katsina

    The Almajiri phenomenon is coming to an end in Katsina State, thanks to the effort of the Ibrahim Shema administration. Food and clothing are delivered to the children; they are also acquiring skills.

    In Daura, an emirate in the state, Governor Shema has handed out food and clothing items to pupils of Qur’anic schools to keep them from begging on the roads.

    Many are concerned that the Almajiri phenomenon is endangering the children, who are enrolled in Qur’anic schools but are often out on the streets soliciting alms and food.

    There are worries that their school environments are unsuitable and that their health is compromised. There is also concern on safety and moral issues. But the greatest worry is that not much has been done to help the children.

    Shema has stepped in to address that challenge. He has started a pilot scheme with 70 Qur’anic schools in the state. Food and clothing are sent to those schools. The pupils are equally taught skills, on which to productive lives upon graduation. With the success of the pilot scheme, the state government plans to replicate the effort in every Qur’anic school spread all over the state.

    Many reckon that the scheme will not only help the pupils to acquire knowledge and self-improving skills, but will also fight poverty in the state, since many of the Almajiri children are from poor homes.

    The Federal Government launched an Almajiris Integrated Boarding School Programme in Sokoto, designed to fuse western education into Quranic curriculum and be domesticated in every northern states.

    The Katsina pilot scheme, however, does not have the western education component, yet, but may do so in future depending on the success of the trial programme.

    In driving the scheme, Shema has a dependable ally in Prof. Aminu Kado Kurfi, the state Commissioner for Education.

    While flagging off the pilot scheme at Alarama Mallam Bello Qur’anic School, Shema revealed that the plan has been on the government’s education drawing board since the inception of his administration in 2007.

    He explained that it will take time for government to effectively execute an important programme of this nature; it requires adequate planning to ascertain wha is involved.

    He revealed that N36m will be spent on the programme monthly in the first phase that would last six months, after which the programme will be assessed for possible expansion to other schools in the state.

    Shema said: “Our intention is that we should be able to promote effective teaching and practice of Islamic knowledge among the youth to inculcate the fear of God in the children.

    “You are aware that this administration always put education and acquisition of knowledge as the first priority of the government. That is why we will never stop propagating western education and Islamic education as both can always go together.

    The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Aminu Kurfi, said in order to properly educate the youthful Almajiri to make more impact in the society, government has decided to promote Quoranic education alongside western instruction.

    He said he drew inspiration from the state governor, urging him to continue with his effective leadership. The commissioner added that the governor has made Katsina the first state in the North to devise a workable solution to the Almajiri challenge.

    Kurfi said the Shema administration has constituted a committee that visited and assessed Quoranic schools before determining that feeding and clothing the pupils would drastically reduce the Almajiri menace in the state.

    Senior Special Assistant to Governor Shema on Almajiri Affairs, Mallam Lawal Mani Gambarawa, expressed appreciation for the pilot programme which is likely to be extended to thousands of similar Qur’anic schools in the state.

    Gambarawa said the Almajiri children go out begging because of hunger and poverty of their parents, but he added that change has come since the state government is now feeding, clothing and providing vocational training.

    The SSA said: “In Katsina State zone, we have 3,023 Qur’anic schools just as we have 2,689 schools in Daura and 2,653 schools in Funtua, making a total of 8,365 Qur’anic schools in the state. Also, our Almajiri who go about in search of food while studying in their respective Qur’anic schoosls also totalled 460,212 pupils”.

    Gambarawa insisted that the state government feed-the-children programme is in the right direction to put an end to excruciating suffering and begging  among the Allo school pupils as it would also ameliorate the prevailing insecurity in the northern states and indeed Nigeria.

    He therefore called for the co-operation of everyone to make the progamme succeed, as the government cannot unilaterally drive it.

    Gambarawa appealed to the well-to-do and the entire Muslim community to support the Allo Model School programme as its success will enhance co-existence in the north and entire country.