The Federal Government of Nigeria has resolved to end the menace of the Almajiri children roaming streets across the country; by prescribing the practice in collaboration with State governments and all other relevant stakeholders. The development was premised to the rising cases of multi-faceted security challenges in the country.
Speaking after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting held on 2oth June, 2019 in Abuja, National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, disclosed that, it is very important to proscribe certain groups ultimately running around under the guise of maybe getting some kind of education that is not really formal and then begging to cause a lot of problems for the society.
He affirmed that the Country cannot continue to have street urchins, children roaming around, only for them in a couple of years, or decades to become a problem to the country.
Monguno stressed that talks were on with State governments to enforce the policy of education for every child. It is every child’s right, his entitlement, as long as he is a Nigerian. He added that the model used in the Western region in the 50s and 60s would be consolidated upon and adopted to address the Almajiri challenge.
Also, Monguno, a retired Major General emphasized that one of the elements of national power is the population of its country. According to him "Population is a very critical element of national power. It is from the population that you get a critical mass. So, when we look at population, as an element of National security, don’t be surprised if out of every 100 almajiri, you have two neurologists, four architects, two lawyers, and so on and so forth".
It can be recalled that, immediate past Administration of Goodluck Jonathan initiated a long term plan for gradual assimilation of Alamjiri system into the mainstream formal education system by establishing Almajiri schools in some selected Northern states, however, even though schools were built, teachers recruited and trained but the policy did not see the light of the day. If this development is implemented to the latter, the menace would definitely be contained.
