Nigeria @59: Revive Almajiri school system to curb street begging, Sultan tells FG

The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, on Friday called on the Federal Government to revive the Almajiri Special School system, to address cases of street begging. 

Abubakar who is also the President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, made the call during a Public Lecture to mark Nigeria’s 59 Independence Anniversary on Friday, in Abuja. 

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the theme of the event was: ” Peaceful co-existence for National Growth and Development”. He expressed confidence that one of  the ways to tackle the problem of children roaming the streets to beg, was to revive the Almajiri Special System. The Sultan said that most of the children roaming the streets, were not out there to seek for Islamic knowledge. 

According to him,  Islam does not encourage begging. ” Most of these children really are not out there searching for Islamic knowledge. They are merely victims of hunger and looking for food, because Islam does not allow begging. ”

We will partner with political leaders to proffer solutions. “With millions of children out of school, we must do something. We have to educate these children,” he said. The Sultan also enjoined political leaders to do justice to all manner of people, irrespective of their religion. 

The President-General also urged youths to always shun any act of criminality. 

On his part, the representative of President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello, said the major problem of Nigeria was corruption. Bello said  the federal government has initiated policies, especially in the agricultural sector with the aim of empowering youths. 

The minister also said that the federal government, in conjunction with the state governments has put in place a policy aimed at deliybasic education for Nigerian children. 

In the same vein, the guest lecturer at the event, Ustaz Tajudeen Adegun, urged media organisations to enlighten Nigerians on the dangers of corruption. Adegun said, the media will play a  key role in discouraging corruption and promote good moral values for Nigerian youths to emulate