The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has criticised the current state of the Almajiri system in Northern Nigeria, describing it as embarrassing and in need of urgent reform.
Speaking on Thursday during the graduation of 1,897 Almajiri and 1,087 out-of-school adolescent girls at the Sultan Maccido Institute of Quranic and General Studies in Sokoto, the Sultan, represented by the Ciroma of Sokoto, Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar, called for collective efforts to address the issue of street begging associated with the system.
The programme, which was organised by the Sokoto State Arabic and Islamic Education Board with support from UNICEF and the Eleva Foundation, was aimed at empowering the Almajiri and out-of-school adolescent girls in the state.The Sultan said, “I believe we have a greater task, it is not a small thing and we should tackle it collectively.
“I cannot define why someone should come from one local government to move to another place to learn Arabic, don’t we have schools and mallams in that local government.”
He added, “We traditional rulers also went to schools; it is distressing, children being sent to Sokoto from some villages and without food. When I visited the Arabic school, I was shocked at their level of malnutrition”.
