El-Rufai threatens Almajiri Mallams, ‘Relocate or we’ll get you’

Kaduna state Governor, Nasiru El-Rufai, has urged those operating Almajiri schools in the state to relocate.

El-Rufai said during the inauguration of the Kaduna State Child Protection and Welfare Committee on Tuesday in Kaduna that the government would not condone their operation in the state.

He said, “We are working on the Almajiri system and many people do not agree with what we are doing, but we are very confident and sure of the rightness of our actions.

So, my message to all those that have almajiris in Kaduna State, you have a choice to relocate otherwise sooner or later we will get you.”

According to him, the government developed and approved the social protection policy so as to have clear legislation that would be targeted directly to support only the most vulnerable and poorest in the state.

“We want the poorest people to benefit. Politicians often get involved with their ‘slot mentality’, and when we give them those slots, they don’t give them to the poorest.

“So, we must find a way to identify who is poor and who is vulnerable and target this kind of assistance to these kinds of households,” he said.

The governor said that the state’s social investment office has been working across the 24 local government areas to have a comprehensive social register of the poorest and most vulnerable in the society.

He disclosed that the social register has, so far, more than one million households, and assured that every government intervention would be channeled to those on the social register.

He also thanked all those contributing to the protection and welfare of children in Kaduna State.

Earlier, Commissioner, Human Services and Social Development, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, explained that the committee has legal backing and would be set up at the state and local government levels.

Baba said the 20 members of the committee inaugurated were from various sectors and agencies, identified and trained by Unicef.

The commissioner disclosed that her Ministry has a data of over 10,817 Almajiris, who will be enrolled into formal schools.

“Planning has reached advance stage between the ministry and Ministry of Education and SUBEB to enroll the ten thousand eight hundred and seventeen almajiri children in schools.”

She also said that the government had constructed a women centre in Kaduna, which will be a centre of excellence for child protection and victims of gender-based violence.

She said that a philanthropist, Alhaji Musa Bello of Aman Foundation, has pledged to support the government with N300 million for the improvement of the 10 model Tsangaya schools in the state.

Baba said the state government would also provide similar amount to ensure “child protection and best example of a simlest integration of Quranic education, literacy and numeracy and skills development.”

(NAN)