TheCable

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has asked northern governors to put checks on the Almajiri system if they want Boko Haram insurgency and “gangsterism” to become history in the region.

In a statement by Ishaq Akintola, director of the group, MURIC described the system as “escapist, retrogressive, counter-productive and inhuman”.

Akintola estimated the number of Almajiri chidren to be over 10 million, a population which he says is a threat to the children themselves and the society.

According to him, the Alajiri system “cannot be called Islamic education in any sense because it makes mockery of the institution of parenthood as envisaged in Islam”.

“Al-majiris must be reined in if the north really wants Boko Haram and gangsterism to become history,” the statement read.

“The number of children involved in the al-majiri system has been rated at over ten million. Recent studies have revealed that kids metamorphose from this ugly phenomenon to members of street gangs.

“It is strongly suspected that many al-majiri children are now commanders in the dreaded Boko Haram insurgency.”

While it lauded the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan for establishing Almajiri schools in the north, the group blamed the governors in the region “for the misuse and disuse of those structures”.

It said the politicians in the region, “both dead and alive” are to be blamed for failing to see the threat and taking actions to combat it.

The group therefore called on the northern leaders not to allow a repeat of past mistakes by making plans to put a final stop to the menace.

“While we commend the Jonathan administration for building al-Majiri schools in some parts of the North, Northern governors must be held responsible both for the misuse and disuse of those structures. Most of the al-majiri schools are lying fallow today while some have been converted to other uses. This is most unfortunate,” the statement read.

“In the final analysis, the blame rests squarely on Northern politicians dead and alive for failing to see the threat coming and for their
inability to evolve a means of combating it and bringing it to a halt.

“It may have been callous and myopic, but the present crop of politicians must not repeat the mistakes of history.

“MURIC exhorts northern governors to come up with a master plan capable of resolving the al-majiri debacle once and for all.

“This plan should take cognizance of the need for a census of all those involved in the system, buildings to be used as hostels, modern structures to be used as schools, adequate remuneration for the Islamic teachers, free feeding and capacity building for the kids, etc._

“The Buhari administration must also intervene by initiating a special project for the al-majiri.”