THE Presidency has been issuing conflicting signals on exactly what it intends to do with the Almajiri education system which ends up breeding child beggars, especially in the Muslim-dominated areas of Northern Nigeria.

On June 21, 2019, the National Security Adviser, NSA, Babagana Monguno, disclosed at the end of the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja that the system has become a huge problem to society as many of the pupils end up as criminals, drug addicts and ready tools in the hands of “those who have very dangerous intentions”.

Many concerned Nigerians, including the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, and some Koranic scholars applauded it though some were vehemently opposed to it. The Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, Sa’ad Abubakar III, has consistently condemned the system as being “unlslamic”.

In a volte-face, however, Garba Shehu, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Assistant on Media, said there was no immediate plan to ban the system though its eventual proscription remained a worthwhile goal.

We demand that the Federal Government comes out with a plan to eventually do away with a controversial cultural practice which is not common even in the Islamic world beyond our immediate shores. The Almajiri system, which is massively responsible for the bulk of our 13.5 million out-of-school children (the largest in the world) is a residue of the age-old resistance to Western education in the Muslim-dominated parts of the North.

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No matter its perceived usefulness when it was established it has become a system that keeps the children of poor, indigent and ignorant sections of the populace away from modern education which is capable of liberating people and enriching their lives.

The Almajiri system keeps children of the poor perpetually as hewers of wood and drawers of water. It is a major fuel for the frequent violence in the North manifesting in terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, drug abuse and sundry social ills.

We agree that an outright “ban” at this moment without preparation and sensitisation might create resistance and complicate our security woes. Being an offshoot of a culture rooted in religion like the Osu Caste system in parts of Igboland, banning it might become a mere academic exercise when it comes to implementation.

We call on the Federal Government to liaise with the governors and consult widely among relevant stakeholders in the North and beyond to create a strategic pathway towards the eventual phase-out of the system.

We must recommit to the implementation of the national policy which gives all Nigerian children the right to free, compulsory basic education (from primary school to Junior Secondary School 3 at least).

The Almajiri system is a national embarrassment and must go.