Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Wednesday said the 19 Northern governors in the country have collectively agreed on putting an end to the Almajiri system in the country and are ready to face anyone who dares to stand on their path in realising this objective.
Speaking on Channels Television programme ‘Politics Today’, El-Rufai said the almajiri culture system is archaic and has not led to any positive result both for the Northern region and Nigeria as a whole.
According to him, though the northern governors have been looking for a way to end the menace, the COVID-19 pandemic has given them the golden opportunity to make it a reality as the system has become a scourge which is capable of mortgaging the future of youths and creating problems for modern generation.
What the Northern Governors’ Forum has determined is to end this (Almajiri) system once and for all because it has not worked for our part of the country and it has been a source of problem for the rest of the country and we are determined to end it once and for all.
“We have discussed this and we are ready to face anyone on this subject. There is nowhere in the world where children go through this kind of system which does not give life skills, does not prepare them for modern education and creating future problems for generations.
“We are ready to face anyone that wants to confront us on this matter. All the 19 northern governors, we took a decision collectively and we are going to implement it to the letter.
“We are ready for any backlash but we will not mortgage the future of our children and put our region at risk as well as Nigeria at risk with the continuation of this system. It is archaic, it is out-of-date. It has not led to any positive result for our region and for our country and so, we must end it”.