How I was forced into bakery oven over N80 bread - Almajiri,
Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, said that across the country, evidence abounds about how the rights of children are flagrantly trampled upon.
According to him, in many cities in the country, there are familiar situations like mothers using their new born babies to elicit pity from passers-by, and thereafter beg for alms.
He said that little children who are supposed to be in the care of their parents or in schools are forced into the streets to beg, and are even given targets, which if not met could result in further abuses.
“There can be no mincing words about the fact that the reality of Almajiri children in Northern Nigeria represents the worst and most cruel violation of the rights of children, which calls to question the humanity of the perpetrators of these abuses. For those of us who have seen on display this painful plight of these innocent children in the cities and towns across the North, we cannot have sound sleep until we concert efforts to end these cruelties perpetrated against innocent children.
“Every day, we see hordes of hungry, unsheltered, and barely clad children approaching us to beg for the next meal or for money. As we speak, hundreds of these children are on the streets of our country, exposed to the elements, with no access to education, food, clothing and parental love. Yet, they too are children and citizens of our country, with their fundamental human rights supposedly protected, recognized and guaranteed by the constitution of our country,” Zikirullahi said.
He therefore called for efforts to boost the honour of Nigerian children in the interest of national development.
Our correspondent gathered that Umar and his brother have never visited home since they left for Gombe three years ago, and their parents didn’t visit them.
But their father, a subsistence farmer, Malam Umar Adamu, said his three other children have also passed through the same Tsangaya School system.
“I was also an Almajiri boy myself when I was growing up, so there is nothing wrong because the proprietor is my relative and I believe he wouldn’t harm him deliberately.
“Therefore, when he is fully recuperated, he will still go back to the school to continue with his studies,” he said.
On her part, Maryam Umar Adamu, 40, mother of Umar, said her two children were removed from formal school and enrolled in Tsangaya School.
“The proprietor of the Tsangaya is my husband’s relative, and when he opened the school three years ago, he requested my husband to give him two of his children to start school and he obliged.
“They were withdrawn from primary school and taken to Tsangaya School. When he told me that he was taking them to far away Gombe State, I was not happy but had no objection since we are all under his care.
“Just a year after they started, their teacher sent a message that they were too much in the school and he could not afford their feeding, so I gathered some food and set out to visit them. But unfortunately, I had an accident on my way and had to cancel the trip,” she said.
Umar’s mother said they were informed three days after the incident. His paternal uncle visited him when he was receiving treatment at home. Maryam further said her husband has four wives and 21 children, and only her children - Nafi’u and his brother were taken to Tsangaya School.
However, she vowed to take her children back to their village when he fully recuperates. “We have both primary and secondary school in the village, so I will persuade their father to enroll them.”
The Gombe State Police Command said Bala and his conspirator, one Yarima Adamu, have been arraigned before Chief Magistrate Court II in Bajoga and remanded in prison custody.
The command’s Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Yusuf Balami, said the duo were facing two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and causing grievous hurt on young Nafi’u Umar.