The senator representing Kano South in the National Assembly, Sen. Kabiru Gaya, has told governors of the Northern states in Nigeria that the abolition of the Almajiri system would back fire in the long run.
Sen. Gaya, who recalled that he was once an Almajiri, said moving the Almajiris from one state to the other has only worsened the Coronavirus crisis.
He believed the repatriation of the less priviledged children only heaped more burden on the parents of such children, who are already overwhelmed by poverty.
The senator spoke in an interview with Channels Television, on Monday.
According to him, “Scrapping the Almajiri system won’t solve our problems. We have to think of a way to educate them. I was an Almajiri.
“When I was in primary school, I came back in the evening to the Almajiri School. And we are contributing our best to the country as a former Almajiri today.
“Packing those children to homes where their parents cannot feed them will only expose them to crime.
“The governors should put heads together. You don’t make a law and do not provide an alternative.
“Instead of transporting them back to their states, the government should create more schools where the children can go and get a better form of education and enjoy the Quaranic education as well.
“Most of us started from the Almajiri school and then we moved to our primary schools later and continued with Islamic education in the Quaranic school.
“The governors in the North should sit together again and find a way to get a solution.
“The movement of Almajiri from one state to another will not solve our problems because you could see that some were moved from one state to another and they are COVID-19 patients who spreading the disease to other states,” Sen. Gaya said.
