Federal Government To Proscribe The Almajiri Phenomena – Babagana Monguno
Almajiri is a system of Islamic education practiced in northern Nigeria, but it has become a source of worry for the country because that system does not balance religious education with western style education, causing a high number of out-of-school children.
The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno on Thursday briefed State House correspondents at the end of NEC meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo that some groups like the Almajiri groups would be proscribed by the Federal Government.
Noting that the groups are becoming a problem to society, Monguno said that education is every child’s right. He also pointed out that drivers of insecurity in the country included unemployment, poverty, and increasing population.
He said:
“I also made suggestions regarding the way forward which include, employment creation and reduction of poverty, and being the culture of impunity and looking at stabilizing certain areas of the country by giving rise to affordable education.
“This is very important because in most parts of the country we have a lot of children roaming around without any formal education. And as the President has mentioned earlier when he was inaugurating the national economic council, we need to make education compulsory and free for every child in the country.
“Because the problem we face today is rooted in the fact that a lot of people who have been denied the opportunity basically the opportunity to get formal education end up over the years, there is an accumulation of a large mass of human beings who end up becoming criminals, drug addicts and so on and so forth.
“And they end up becoming tools to be used by elements in the wider society who have very dangerous intentions.
He went on to say, certain groups were hiding under the guise of getting informal education to perpetrate disturbances in the society. Speaking further on the Amajiri groups, Monguno said:
“The group I spoke about on illiteracy is the Almajiri. Ultimately, government will have to proscribe the Almajiri phenomena, because we cannot continue to have street urchins, children roaming around, only for them in a couple of years, or decades to become a problem to society.
We are not saying that they are going to be contained in a manner, that you might think we want to do something that is harmful to them, no.
What we want to do is to work with the state government to enforce the policy of education for every child. It is every child’s right, his entitlement so long as he is a Nigerian.”