Ganduje vows to arrest parents whose kid fail to attend school as begging is un-Islamic

GOVERNOR Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has vowed to arrest and prosecute parents who fail to send their children to school in the state because begging is un-Islamic and those who allow their wards to engage in it are contravening the koran's teaching.

Of late, absenteeism has become rampant across northern Nigeria, making the nation country with the highest number of out-of-school children in the world at 10.3m. Following the collapse of the traditional Almajiri school system in the post-colonial era, many parents do not send their children to school and instead allow them to roam the streets as beggars.

This, however, has led to numerous social problems as these kids without any education end up becoming armed robbers, kidnappers and terrorists. Numerous international bodies like Unesco and Unicef have called on Nigerian states to dramatically increase the amount they spend on education in a bid to reverse the trend.

Speaking yesterday during an interactive session with Unicef, Governor Ganduje said: “Children begging on the street instead of going to school will be arrested and their parents will arrested and charged to court for prosecution because begging is not our religion. Begging is not Islam."

"My administration has seen to 30, 000 primary and secondary school teachers getting certificates by ensuring that they go back to school for their qualifications. We hope you as development partners when we are being accused by mischievous people, will come forward and defend us.

"Anything we do for the development of education, if we receive undue criticism, I urge you to demonstrate and we will give you protection. That is the only way we can get a change, otherwise, all that we are doing will remain theoretical."

He added that as China has conquered the world as a result of the population that is how Kano too will conquer Nigeria as a result of its population. Governor Ganduje added that he wanted Kano State's population to become an asset and education is the way to achieve this.