Northern Nigeria: Failed Leadership = almajiri + poverty + illiteracy

[Dan-Borno]

each time poverty is mentioned, it is always the northern
nigeria that will come as an example.  the last time our
former CBN governor made this revelation, so many northern
leaders who don't want the umbrella of blame shifted to their
heads accused soludo, however, this time around the
revelation is from the son of the soil, a young enterprising
youth and the editor-in-chief of sardauna magazine,
Malam Hassan Rilwan.

the above caption is what appears on the front page of the
sardauna magazine, though he talked little about the issue
in his editorial, however, he "...challenged northern leaders on
the issues of child destitutes (almajiranchi), poverty and
illiteracy as products of their failed leadership..."

in his speech during the 3rd annual sardauna excellence leadership
award he said "if sir ahmadu bello were to appear in our midst
today and give us a report card (to fill) on the last forty years
what would he say (as he sees the result)? you did a good job?
No! he would say, I did not live and die to see five year old
boys roaming the streets every morning in hunger, despair and
clueless about their future.  I did not live to see these children's
future destroyed even before it starts.  Our leaders have to search
their conscience and take urgent step to to stop this menace which
has become a burden on our collective conscience."

the issue of almajiranchi has been on discussion in almost every
northern fora and billions of naira has been spent on almajiranchi,
yet, it has not been arrested but only succeeded in multiplying
the number of almajiri participation.

what could be the possible problems? is it the leadership we are
to blame as Hassan Rilwan suggested or the lingering problem lies
with the people of the north? is the leadership meant here include
our traditional leaders and religious leaders?

northern nigeria failed leadership = almajiri + poverty + illiteracy
(a need for transformation)

[gogannaka]

Nice one.

Just recently i heard on the news that the Kaduna state Government has earmarked about N150million to build schools for almajirai.
Like the editor said, the issue has been debated for long and not much has really been done about it.
Governments introduce policies that are still ineffective in battling almajiranchi.
Kano state introduced the tsangaya program which seem to be abandoned. It was meant to document the 'tsangayoyi and formalize their kind of education.This has so far proven to be ineffective and it seems like the government has abandoned the project.

Like Shekarau once said at the northern governors forum,the Almajiranchi issue needs to be addressed by the whole region.
It is a collective responsibility that the whole governors need to tackle. The same kind of policy should be adopted by all the governors.

To me, i think what needs to be done is to force the almajirai to undergo formal western education(boko) just like our own children do.
It is time we realize that western education teaches us how to earn a living in this society. Islamic education,like the one the almajirai are taught will not teach them how to earn a living in today's world. It would have been very advantageous if they have both kinds of education because the islamic education will make them more humble in the pursuit of their means of living.
The effort of the Kaduna state government is commendable. They should please go on and force all the almajirai on the streets to go to school and learn.
Lagos has done it recently. The govt has made it compulsory on all children between the ages of 6 to 13 to go to school and hence any child within that age limit is not allowed to roam the streets during school hours. If caught they will be forced to school.

[Dan-Borno]

thats true my brother.

from my personal interaction and observation, its like, government
find difficulty in implementing the tsangaya programme as adopted
by most of the northern states. 

the managers are actually government officials from ministries,
however, they rely on the information supplied to them by the
leaders of tsangayas (Alarammomi).  these tsangayas have no any
modus operandi and they can wake up in the morning to see set of
almajirai who came all the way from mali.

another major impediment i observed is government officials
corruption, putting into consideration the scattered nature of
the tsangayas, it can be easily inflated without corresponding
positive result.

gaskiya we need to address this almajiranchi.

[Dave_McEwan_Hill]

Not for the first time I find myself agreeing with gogannaka and his excellent post. This issue about "boko" is a false arguement introduced by those who would like to keep the lower classes under their control by spurious application of religious laws.
To teach a child to read, to write to count and to train it in some trade or occuation in no way interupts that child's attitude to his religion. To call sensible education "western" is a nonsense. It was after all first practised by the Arabs and the Chinese.
In my little country of Scotland the law was made that all children had to go to school in the 16th century. This was unprecedented and led to Scotland leading the world in all science and invention for several hundred years. England didn't follow for over three hundred years so Scotland produced most of the thinkers for the British Empire and Scots went all round the world running things and building succesful enterprises.
Northern Nigeria can chose to stay in the past and fall further behind or it can educate all its people and step into the future. Education and the UPE scheme in the North was why I came to Nigeria 38 years ago. It sounds as if things have gone backwards since those days..

[Dave_McEwan_Hill]

Just watched the first part of a very thought provoking drama on BBC2 TV. It is called " Blood And Oil" and is about the constant turmoil in the Delta area. Second part tonight. Does not paint the Nigerian Government in a very good light (so, what's new?)

But the main thrust of the programme is about the endemic and deeply grained corruption which completely disfigures Nigeria. When the oil runs out Nigeria will be left with nothing. Instead of building roads and schools and hospitals and power plants and setting up industries and revolutionising the farming potential which could feed all of Africa every last Naira is being stolen by your leaders and the whole nation is involved in this. I cannot blame the poor for trying to get some when their leaders steal with impunity but when is Nigeria going to throw up a real leader.
Don't expect any help from the West. The industrialised Western nations (and the industrialising Eastern powers like India and China) are quite happy to be able to bribe their way to access of Nigeria's natural resources. They, of course, need assistance of corrupt Nigerians as they do so. 

It will soon be too late.