The raging debate over the Bill for an act to provide for the establishment of the National Commission for the Eradication of Child Destitution in Nigeria, otherwise known as almajiri bill, which has already passed a second reading in the senate is a clear pointer to how serious the almajiri issue is to many people. As I had earlier pointed out in the article, Almajiri: beyond the rhetoric (Daily Trust 12th June 2008), it was very clear that the sponsors of the bill were either confused or cannot even differentiate between the destitute and an almajiri (their intertwining notwithstanding).
However, nothing vindicates this assertion than a protagonist of the bill in his rejoinder to Adamu Adamu's That Almajirci bill (I) (Daily Trust 19th September 2008) in which he (Adamu), accused the Senate of giving dog a bad name in order to hang it.
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In his piece, also titled "That almajirci bill(1)" a certain Mustapha Shehu, who claimed and seems to be among those whose combined efforts led to the formulation of the final draft bill for an act to "provide for the Establishment of the National Commission for the Eradication of Child Destitution in Nigeria and for other Connected Purposes", inadvertently indicated that either those who prepared and sponsored the bill did not do their homework before embarking on the process, or it is simply based on prejudice.
It is disturbingly clear from Shehu's piece that even the chief sponsor of the bill appears not to be conversant with what the almajiri schools teach when he told the Senate, in his lead debate, that ".....these are children who were let-out by their parents/guardians to learn Arabic and Qur'anic studies, which was (sic) later referred to as the Almajiri system," (emphasis mine). If the fact that the almajiri schools teach ONLY Qur'anic recitation and writing and NOTHING more. If he were a non-Muslim southerner, he could be excused for obvious reasons. But for a northern senator sponsoring such a bill to display such ignorance is simply not acceptable. The motive behind the project is, therefore, questionable.
Equally disturbing is the deliberate but wrongly and unsubstantiated accusation of the innocent almajiris with all sorts of evils. The Tafidan Argungu, who is the chief sponsor of the bill, surprisingly displayed this when he asserted that "multitude of under-aged children swarm shopping centres, motor parks, petrol stations, restaurants, night clubs, even beer parlous and brothels looking for pittance and handouts to eke out a living". (Emphasis mine). Perhaps, the ever yawning gap between the deprived and the senators led to the belief by the distinguished senator that any beggar anywhere is a student of a Qur'anic school otherwise known as almajiri.
But nothing clearly shows the level of disparity between the reality on ground and the perception of the movers of the bill than the declaration of Mr. Shehu who wrote that "the Mallams tax the Almajiris to make daily returns of certain amounts to them. In the process, the Almajiris have to beg and/or do menial jobs. If they fail to make the returns, they are thoroughly beaten and tied to a tree trunk. In many cases, they run away, and afraid to return to their parents who will chastise them further for absconding, end up in cities as praise singers or riffraff or team up with other dangerous elements in society whose warped understanding of Islam is based on its total misunderstanding, to constitute a socially dangerous menace that gives rise to the emergence of quack clerics". This is a blatant and shameless twist of facts, which are sacred. It is even amusing that somebody who displayed so much slip as contained in the article could pretend to know the difference between a quack cleric and an authentic one.
One is disturbed that the whole issue is about strengthening the controversial Child Right Act as earlier reported by the media, but not the genuine and honest drive to end the quandary of our people who are badly in need of the senator's attentions.
The bill proposes a 2-year imprisonment of any Malam running an unregistered school with no option of fine. Is there such penalization to proprietors of unregistered modern schools? The most disturbing thing about all these, (and many other things that are coming from the sponsors of the bill), is that it is very clear that the bill is not based on the actual facts about the almajiri phenomenon. This means that a law is to be enacted on wrong and/or prejudiced postulation. This will consequently discriminate the very people who are supposed to be represented by the senator sponsoring the bill.
One is at a loss as to what the bill wanted to check. Is it the child destitution or the almajiri schools (which is, wrongly, regarded as the root of the former) or both? Are we dreaming of getting rid of child destitution simply by putting a gagging order on the almajiri system of education?
It is an undisputable fact that the almajiri schools are seriously abused to some extent by some of the teachers, but it is clear that there are almajiri schools that are not as bad as being portrayed. Even the Tafidan Argugu attested to this when he insisted that "the scriptural meaning of the Almajiri system is being misconstrued by the practitioners who by way of omission or commission get themselves involved. Whilst some of the Mallams engage these kids for Islamic knowledge, empowerment and good morals to become good citizens in their immediate society and country at large, some do so for their selfish economic gains which are against the tenets of the Holy Scripture and human rights" (emphasis mine).
This, then, seriously calls for caution in the way we handle this issue in order not to shoot ourselves in the foot. I still have a feeling that the senator might have good intention in coming up with this bill, but he only got many things wrong. To say that the present nature of almajiri system of education needs to be revamped is the greatest understatement. We must do something urgently to save our children from nihility. I don't think there remains a single northerner who is not worried about the almajiri phenomenon as it portends the dark future ahead if we complacently wish it away. Howbeit, we must never let ourselves be pushed or remotely prodded into sentimentalism that will naturally push the children further into deep abyss.
As yours truly pointed elsewhere that, damning, painful and totally unacceptable as the issue of begging in the north is, the need to carefully appreciate and assess the problem (in order to tackle it) should as well never be compromised.
This is time for his eminence the Sultan to act on this issue. It is time for the caliphate to organize a stakeholder's summit which will include all northern governors, all northern senators and members of the House of Representatives, all northern emirs, the ulama, selected alarammas from different tsangayas across the region, related specialists and so on. The goal of this summit is to discuss and chart an empirical and sustainable way out and way forward with regard to the problem of both child destitution and antediluvian state of almajiri schools. Mahmud, aka Aminu S/Nagge, No 8 Chiranchi Qtrs, Kano State.
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