For obvious reasons, the issue of almajari system has become one that is reverberating in several states of the north. For the reasons that are now commonplace, virtually all those states have put in place measures to send them back to their home states. The new development is an idea which time should long have taken place, if not for its social, economic and political implications.
The Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the world has, on many fronts, opened up several areas hitherto thought to be sacrosanct. Opening up a discussion on certain items in Nigeria are often times regarded as untouchable, as such would open old wounds; and make a section think they are being attacked for what they stand for.
No news could have hit many Nigerians other than when Governor Abdullahi Ganguje announced to the world he would be sending a huge number of the street children popularly referred to as almajiri to their home states. Several states in the North West, North East and Central Nigeria followed suit, as if in some competition with each other to beat a dateline.
Some states have been reported to have refused the contingent from states other than theirs. Taraba State is reported to have refused those sent by Nasarawa State, the story in Kaduna is a bit different as several of them who were returned by Kano reportedly tested positive to coronavirus. It can be that sad. 
Not wanting to be out-done, the states ‘hurriedly’ ferried those they considered as being in the class; and who needed to be sent ‘home’. It is not the correctness or wrongness of the exchange programme that should worry us; indeed, what we are concerned with here is the abolition which, we hope will stand the test of time. No wonder, Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State has been quoted as saying, the alamjiri system is dead for the good of Nigeria.
The system has ‘worked’ for several years in Nigeria, even though there have been pockets of rejection from several who think it should have been abolished and schools established to take care of them. Several parents in the North, where it is practiced largely found it expedient to engage in it, because of what it stands for. It was a matter of time before it exploded in our faces; and thereby threatening the lean resources of governments as well as personal disadvantage.
It is basically an economic, social as well as political liability for the states which hitherto encouraged the system’s existence. The biggest challenge states have had to contain with is the ‘fact that it’s an economic parasitic institution, which all of us are unjustifiably saddled with either directly or indirectly. And you never can tell what exactly the products shall be-whether they shall be our friends or our foes!’
Many others think otherwise, and have voiced their frustrations on the continued existence of the practice. It has a long history of religious adulteration; yet, a socio-cultural issue which has threatened Islamic scholarship should not be taken lightly. It makes sense therefore that the movement started from states considered core Islamic states, but advisably should be decisive through policy and the children made to enjoy their relationships with their parents.
The almajiri do not have a data or observable statistics; what we can say is that there is often a continued influx of them into a particular state. Recently in Jos, the convener of Movement for the Rights of Almajiri Child, Salis Muhammad Abdulsalam, started working on a legislative bill and policy implementation to reform the practice. The pandemic that is ravaging nations may have clearly changed the drive; however, it is not out of place that it should be reformed for the good of the children as well as their parents.
It must be stated, and rightly too that the timing for moving them to their respective states does not add up for some who share the same sentiment; yet it is an initiative which should have long been done. In the first place, the action was panic measure; but the intentions of the state are largely genuine, yet it is not far from the fact that they have parents and could be rehabilitated with their families. But in the face on current dispensation, what the governments should have done basically is to quarantine and have all of them properly examined before they are taken home to their parents.
We are where we are because we had thought it wasn’t a problem that we should be worried about. Having done the profiling in Plateau State, for instance, over seven hundred almajiri were said to have been returned home to their parents; while the state received some 145. Perhaps there are still some on ground. No wonder, at some point in Jos, it was illogical to imagine the number of such children at the city center begging.
The dispersal process could arguably be  termed as  Almajiri Exchange Programme with states spending huge sums of money to send them to their home states. Progressive as it has come, it should be noted also that the world over, correctional centers are being decongested for fear of inmates getting infected. Some countries have reported large number of inmates who have been infected by the virus.
Somehow, it has been noted elsewhere that is an indication of failure on the part of government to allow it continue for years. President Jonathan Goodluck spent several billions to establish almajiri schools in several states in the north; however, it ended as a colossal failure as it was politically killed and given names.
Not too long ago in February 2020, the former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II warned on the system insisting that it was the establishment that was wrong. Some people have concluded that fathers should be arrested for sending out their children to take alms.
While criticizing the almajiri system in the north, Sanusi said any man who is too poor to fend for himself should go out and beg himself rather than sending his children out for alms.
The Sultan of Sokoto who was part of those who attended the meeting also said that there’s no law that asks men to marry women, have children and abandon them without living up to their responsibility to them. They expressed these views at the Joint National Conference of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, and Future Assured Initiative on Repositioning the Muslim Family for National Development, at the Banquet Hall of State House, Abuja.
His conclusions are that: “We do know what the problems are, husbands not taking their responsibilities, and children ending on the streets. The problems are, there are irresponsible fathers.’
Interestingly as we all know, we have had several children who ended up on the streets becoming a nuisance to the society, even as we are aware that there are some, who, regardless of what they know have claimed states other than theirs. These are the class that is easily recruited by politicians, and are readily available during elections to cause havoc. They always do not have anything to lose.
“Where did you get it that you are allowed to have children and abandon them to beg? You are allowed to marry wife number one, number two, number three and leave them hungry, who gave you that right? The verse that say you can marry four wives at the end says, “the Prophet ask us to pray against severity of trials.
“What is meant by severity of trials is to have a very large family and little money. If you are too poor to feed your children, then go out and beg, and not send your children to do the begging.
“We are hoping that we stop treating almajiri as criminals. When you see one on the street, ask him or her where is your father? so, go and arrest the father, not the boy, because the father is responsible for the problem, not the child’.
Given the new development, every state has its reasons for the dispersal of the children; however, it cannot be far from the fact that the time for its abolition has come; and without being told the drive should not be left to die.
The world is moving forward, Nigeria cannot be an island. While the coronavirus pandemic has its disadvantages, let us not play down the advantages that the sad development may leave in its wake.
Written by 
Katdapba Yunana Gobum