The Northern Nigerian Governors Forum should use Father’s Day as an opportunity to reflect on our Almajiri problem

By Ayo Akinfe 

(1) Today, being Father’s Day is I guess the most appropriate time to discuss our Almajiri problem in Nigeria. Now, Almajiri is a system of Islamic education practiced in northern Nigeria. Almajiri derives from an Arabic word, rendered al-Muhajirun, which translates to a person who leaves his home in search of Islamic knowledge

(2) There is nothing wrong with a young person keen to receive religious education. For centuries, the monks have done this worldwide but alas, in Nigeria, the system has been an abysmal failure and its shortcomings have spurred an unprecedented crime wave across the country. These youths who go off in search of Islamic education end up being Boko Haram terrorists, armed herdsmen and of late kidnappers. They do not receive the pious religious education they seek and even the few that do, end up with no employment after their training, leaving them with no other options than to become Boko Haram commanders 

(3) Almajiri education started in Nigeria in Kanem-Borno. After the Sokoto caliphate was founded, it too began running an Almajiri network of schools. During this pre-colonial era, students used to stay with their parents for proper moral upbringing. All the schools available then were in a close proximity with the immediate environment of the students. Inspectors were introduced to go round the schools and report to the Emir of the province all the matters regarding the affairs of the school. These schools were funded by the community, parents, zakkah, sadaqqah and sometimes through the farm output of the students

(4) Things took a turn for the worse in 1904 though as the British invaded northern Nigeria and during the invasion, most Emirs were killed and others were deposed. Most of the remaining emirs lost control of their territories and of the almajiri schools. Boko, or Western education was introduced and the British abolished state funding of almajiri schools. With no support from the community, Emirs and government, the system collapsed. Teachers and students had no financial support, so, they turned to alms begging and menial jobs for survival

(5) According to a recent report by the National Council for the Welfare of the Destitute (NCWD), the approximated number of almajiris in northern Nigeria currently stands at about 7m. They lack good teachers and basic amenities like proper clothing and shelter. Most of the almajiri do not graduate and are cannon fodder for politicians who arm them to cause mayhem. The good ones end up as Okada drivers, security guards and in other low paid jobs 

(6) The last person to try to do anything about this was President Goodluck Jonathan. He actually funded the construction of Almajiri schools, recruited teachers, provided them with books and got them uniforms. The whole idea was that they would receive formal mainstream education alongside their Islamic education. Kind of similar to the way those who went to missionary schools got a Christian education alongside their formal education during the colonial era 

(7) Now, I have always said that very little happens in life without precedence. In Indonesia and Iran, they have similar Almajiri schools called Shoras. There, their pupils are educated rather than indoctrinated. If they can make it work so can we. Neither Indonesia or Iran has 10.3m children out of school, so we have to ask, what is it they are doing right that we are not 

(8) If you ask me, this is not the federal government’s responsibility. Solving the problem is down to state and local governments. For starters, Nigeria’s constitution makes it explicitly clear that primary education is the responsibility of local government. How many local government chairmen in Nigeria have opened an Almajiri school over the last four years? How many governors in northern Nigeria have released funds for the opening of such schools? I think the National Assembly needs to pass an education act compelling state governors across northern Nigeria to spend at least 40% of their budgets on education for the next 10 years until this problem is reduced to a manageable proportion 

(9) You know, Brazil once had a street urchin problem like us but they have resolved the matter. A report in 1993 revealed that there were 7m urchins on Brazil's streets. Mainly based in cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, these youths were shoeless, homeless and for all purposes, nameless. Local businessmen used to shoot them because they were bad for tourism and commerce but over the last 20 years, the government stepped in with a nationwide vocational programme that saw them being trained in trades like carpentry, bricklaying, decorating, metal working, etc. India has done something similar

(10) Nigeria has to take a leaf from the books of others who have turned this around. Just imagine the state our economy would be in if those 10.3m out-of-school children were trained in vocational skills and employed in industrial production. We would have our steel mills, textile factories, car assembly plants, bottling factories, food processing plants, hydro-electric dams, etc all working at full capacity. Over to you the Northern Nigerian Governor’s Forum!