Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has called on the National Assembly to enact legislation outlawing the Almajiri system, arguing that the practice has become a major driver of the growing number of out-of-school children and worsening insecurity in Northern Nigeria.
Sule made the appeal on Friday at the Summit on Enhancing Human Capital Development in Northern Nigeria held in Abuja, where he urged lawmakers and regional leaders to translate discussions at the forum into concrete legislative action.
The governor said Nigeria’s education crisis, estimated at about 18.3 million out-of-school children, is being worsened by the Almajiri system, which he described as the largest structural contributor to the problem in the North.
According to him, many children recruited into banditry and other criminal activities are products of the Almajiri system, making its reform critical to addressing insecurity across the region.
Governor Sule disclosed that Nasarawa State accounts for about 430,000 out-of-school children, underscoring the scale of the challenge facing governments in the region.
Recalling the 2020 repatriation of Almajiri children by Nasarawa and Kaduna states, the governor noted that enforcement alone would not solve the problem without providing viable alternatives for affected children.
He advocated a complete abolition of the Almajiri system and its replacement with compulsory formal education complemented by skills acquisition programmes to equip children for productive lives.
Sule stressed that meaningful policy reforms, backed by legislation and the collective commitment of political, traditional and intellectual leaders in the North, remain the most effective path to tackling poverty, illiteracy and insecurity in the region.
(The Whistler)