Agaju Madugba, Katsina
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to find lasting solution to the Almajirai practice.
NANS President, Danielson Akpan, at a press conference in Katsina, yesterday, lamented the failure of efforts by former president, Goodluck Jonathan, to tackle the problem by getting the roaming children enroll in formal academic institutions.
“We’re aware that former president Jonathan’s administration built schools across the north designed to integrate islamic and western forms of education for the Almajirais, unfortunately that effort has since collapsed. President Buhari and indeed the northern governments should address the issue of Almajirai so that they can be captured in the formal school system while still receiving the Islamic education,” said Akpan.
The Almajirai are mainly children and adolescent boys believed to be pupils of Muslim koranic schools who roam the streets begging for alms for survival.
Akpan said the visit to Katsina was to afford them the opportunity to review educational projects executed by Governor Aminu Bello Masari.