Rise of caesarean births sparks concerns 2019: MY VOTE IS…(IV)
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/balamuhammad-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).
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.
“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.”
“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 <tel:+442019>, 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!