2019: MY VOTE IS…4
by
Bala Muhammad
In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS… (FOR and AGAINST) as we head
towards the 2019 Elections (the series of which is also available at https://saturdaycolumn.blogspot.com/
and https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), today we discuss ALMAJIRI. For reminders, past issues discussed included Corruption,
Drugs, Insecurity, etc. Other sundry issues will also continue to feature –
readers can still send in their 100-word contributions. Readers should also note
their comments should not be limited to Presidential Elections (concurrent with
Senators and House of Reps Members holding February 16) but also on Governorship
Elections (concurrent with State Houses Members holding March 2).
COLUMNIST – MY VOTE IS…FOR THE LEADER WHO WILL END ‘ALMAJIRI’: Last year, this
Column ran a six-part series on Almajiri, a local matter so serious that it should
now be on both the so-called “Exclusive” and “Concurrent” Lists of Nigerian
Governance. Of
all our problems, the most discussed and lamented has been the Almajiri – from
the time I was in primary school, it was discussed. When I was in secondary
school, it was discussed. When I was in university, it was still being
discussed. And now in my middle age, it is still being discussed. Haba!
“I don’t
know what’s wrong with us” is a habitual lament of many a Northern Muslim. A
senior colleague corrected this to read: “Count what’s right with us and you’ll
find what’s wrong with us?” When one does count, the overwhelming ‘wrongs’
swallow the ‘rights’ by almost 9 to 1 on a scale of 10. So almost everything is
wrong with us. The Almajiri ‘Phenomenon’, as we usually call it, may be our
most vexatious social issue discussed and lamented by the so-called Muslim
intelligentsia. The whole Northern educated elite continues to condemn it; in
return it continues to look us in the face. I believe the phenomenon did not
defy solution; solution defied it.
Back
during the 2015 Presidential Elections Campaign, former First Lady Dame
Patience Jonathan threw a painful tantrum to our side – ‘our’ meaning
Hausa-Fulani-Kanuri Arewa Muslims. That comment, “Born Thro Way”, was a glib
reference to ‘our’ albatross, Almajiri. Mrs. Jonathan had said her husband did
not need the votes of people who ‘born throway’ children. It was as painful as it
was true.
Almost two
years ago, Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar
Ganduje brought the matter of Almajiri glaringly home - as reported by the Daily
Post and the Sun of August 5, 2016 – by saying “Kano State has become a centre
for convergence of Almajiris in Northern Nigeria in the name of Qur’anic
education, because there is no legislation outlawing such treatment of children.
At the
moment, Kano has the highest number of Almajiri and, from the statistics we
got, their number is equal to, if not more than, those attending formal
schools.”
Now, if a Governor would lament so, this writer
will lament more. The simple takeaway here is that there is absolutely no
political will to tackle the matter by especially Northern Governors – the
clear picture from Ganduje’s lament is that one cannot solve a pan-Northern
problem in a single state. It has been attempted in the past with Kano State’s Tsangaya
System Reform (incorporating Model Almajiri Schools and a Tsangaya Trust Fund),
and also later by the Jonathan Administration with its Model Almajiri Schools
on a national scale. Sadly, both initiatives only touched the tip of the
iceberg, and even at that the lack of continuity killed them, as is anything
Nigerian.
From time
immemorial (to some of us, that is), post-independence politicians and leaders
from the both the military and civilian regimes down to contemporary times only
paid lip service to resolving this tragic system where millions of mainly young
boys are thrown into the vagaries of urban life of unspeakable social consequences.
As for me, as I have argued
on this page several times, the only solution is: Send All Almajiris Back Home!
Let every father take to his responsibility towards his family. Let the kids
live under the care, provision and security of their parents. And then a Social
Protection Plan should be deployed to fill in the gaps.
It will of course be naive
to believe it will be smooth swallow; there may be some resistance as the
system had been in our veins for too long. Yet terminating it is inevitable. It
must be done, and it is doable. Therefore, My Vote Is For…that leader who will
muster the political will to do the needful.
Zainab Adam (adamz7881@gmail.com):
“My Vote is for the candidate who will work for a
united Nigeria where every Nigerian is seen as a Nigerian first without ethnic,
religious or geographical consideration. A leader who will fight corruption, with
foresight to transform Nigeria into a 21st century nation. A leader that
identifies with his people, not just during elections.”
Adamu Saleh Daurawa (salehdaurawa@gmail.com): “My vote is
for the candidate who will save the judiciary from deep-rooted corrupt
practices and who, through legal means, will rescue the institution from
bribe-taking judges and their lawyer colleagues who have lost
integrity and deserve no honour. My vote is also for the candidate who, through
legal means, will recover illegally-acquired wealth from the past and present
corrupt leaders. My vote is also for the candidate who will try to right
the wrongs done to Nigeria.”
John Simon, Platinum Radio 91.1FM, Keffi: “Sir, the vigor
with which I wrote to you earlier while appreciating your series “MY VOTE IS
FOR AND AGAINST” is still fresh and, as I sit to write to you again today, I’m
even proud to do so. Because this time around I have brought in other people’s
opinions on the topic. Like I informed you the other time, I have borrowed and
used the title of your series for my radio program of Monday 28th January, 2019, titled
‘Roundtable with John Simon on Plantinum FM 91.1’ It was a debate and people
were allowed to call in to give a hint on the kind of leader they would vote
for, or against. Here are a few of such listeners’ comments:
“Frank Emenike: ‘My vote is for someone who will acknowledge
that cholera outbreak in Bauchi is the same as cholera outbreak in Ekiti…A
leader who will promote equality among all regions in Nigeria. A leader who
will address the issue of poverty and security and understand the workings of
the security system of the country, in the sense that he will be proactive. A
leader who should know that when there’s an outbreak of crisis in Zamfara, there’s
tendency of it repeating itself in Birnin Kebbi, if the one in Zamfara is not
contained. A leader that will understand that if the security chiefs fail
within one year of their assignment, they should be changed immediately.
“Olukayode Joseph Gabriel: ‘I will vote for a leader who
will carry every Nigerian along, irrespective of religion, tribe, and ethnicity.
A leader who believes everybody matters, no matter where you come from.’
“Philip Akwanga: ‘My vote is for a leader that will show
concern for civil servants. A leader that will acknowledge and implement civil servants’
promotions, not one who pays only half of workers’ salaries.’
“Sir, let me again say thank you for the privilege to have
used your series title. It has done great good to Nigerians all over. From
Keffi, we say thank you for availing yourself for national development as I
look forward to hosting you on Platinum Roundtable with John Simon soon.”
COLUMNIST – MY VOTE IS…FOR a leader who will work to end the Almajiri
Phenomenon!
My vote is for a leader who has his people at heart not someone that loves to build himself or his FAF,someone whose Nation interest comes first before hi.
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