Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has said that most Quranic education school pupils, popularly referred to as “Almajiri”, who roam the streets in the northern part of the country, are not Nigerians.
The Governor stated this while opening a 3-day retreat organised by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Kano.
The theme of the retreat is, ”Enhancing Basic Education in Nigeria towards a Robust Institutional Strengthening and Effective Stakeholder Engagement”.
According to the governor, a lot of them are foreigners from the Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroun.
“From the survey, we have conducted, most of the “Almajiri” roaming our streets are from Niger, Chad and the northern part of Cameroun.
“Once you improve the quality of ‘Almajiri’ education system, you are inviting other ‘Almajiri’ from other places to come to your state. That is another problem.
“Northern governors are putting more pressure toward having a universal legislation that will limit the migration from one state to another,” he said.
He said that the retreat was “very vital and important, especially at this moment that the country is gradually coming out from the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected education in the country”.
Ganduje disclosed that free and compulsory primary and secondary school education, as well as the transformation of the ”Almajiri” education system, were some of his major priorities in the education sector.
