The repatriation of Almajiri as ordered by the Katsina State Government has been hindered by school teachers or Ulamas, school proprietors and the ravaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chairman of the Katsina State Committee for the repatriation of Almajiri, Alhaji Hussaini Karaduwa, who said this in his office during a chat with The Nation, said the exercise was not very successful in Katsina State because of a lack of cooperation by some stakeholders, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said: “The Ulamas and the school proprietors were diverting the school children to their parents themselves rather than allowing us to do the job.

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“They were rather afraid that the parents of the Almajiris will accuse them of reneging on the agreements they entered into before taking the children to their schools.”

The Committee Chairman, who is also the Special Adviser to Governor Masari on Empowerment Promotion, told The Nation that the state has more than 100,000 indigenous Almajiri and that the repatriation policy of the state government was targeted at addressing the various vices they cause.

He further identified the various mandates of his committee to include data collection on the Almajiri population, the repatriation of the Almajiri to their home states and local government areas, sensitising the school proprietors to the repatriation policy of the state government and the mass return of and re-integration of the Almajiri to over 4,000 Almajiri schools in the state.

He announced that 2,000 Almajiri who are indigenous to Katsina State were returned home by the committee from other states in the country. Other classes of Almajiri that were identified include 7,893 non-indigenous Almajiri from the 19 Northern states and 2,052 Almajiri from the Niger Republic.