TheCable

The Kebbi state government says it has received 83 more almajiri children repatriated from Kano state.

Yahaya Sarki, spokesman of Atiku Bagudu, the governor, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

All 83 were said to be COVID-19 negative as their samples had been tested prior to their repatriation by the Kano authorities.

Kebbi had earlier received 61 almajiri children repatriated from Kano.

According to NAN, the children were received by Jafar Mohammed, the state’s commissioner for health.

“The children hail from seven local government areas of Birnin Kebbi, Kalgo, Dandi, Argungu, Maiyama, Jega and Yauri, while one of them was a citizen of neighbouring Niger Republic,” the statement read.

All the children were said to have been handed over to the chairmen of their respective local governments, while the child from Niger Republic would be taken back to his country “through the protocols laid down by the federal government”.

“We laud the Kano State Government for earlier testing and isolating the children at the Isolation Centre in Kano. I am happy all the children had been declared coronavirus disease-free, as they had tested negative to it,” the statement quoted the health commissioner as saying.

“They were, therefore, ready to be reunited with their families as well as the general society.”

He also said the state’s top priority is the continuation of the Qur’anic and western education of the children, “but with their own biological parents.”