Zamfara State governor Abdulazeez Yari recently stated that over 1.2 million child beggars, popularly called almajirai, were roaming the streets of the state. This figure is realistic but frightening. Apparently, it agrees with the figure quoted two years ago by the then minister of state for education, Aishatu Jibrin Dukku.
She had said there were at least 10 million child beggars in northern Nigeria. Other authorities have put the number of the North's children who are unschooled, unemployed, unemployable and hopeless at 15-20 million.
In its original meaning, almajirai is not synonymous with child beggars. It is recognised in Islam. But, in northern Nigeria, the phenomenon has symbolised all that is associated with neglect and destitution. Governor Yari must have felt disturbed that so many people are so disadvantaged in the state he governs. Every northern governor should be equally worried, for it is an indictment on northern leaders.
How would the future of the North be? What meaningful progress is possible when more than 30 per cent of the population is destitute? The North is obviously sitting on a time bomb. If the problem is not solved today, dangers lie ahead in the future. Who would be the leaders of tomorrow? The abandoned children of today will certainly be the criminal adults of tomorrow.
Education is the best weapon against the odious almajirai syndrome in the North. At present, there is talk of building almajirai schools all over the North. However, what will matter most is the skills the children will acquire that will enable them to be useful to themselves and the society.
It is possible to eliminate the almajirai problem within 10 years, if only parents would start taking care of the children they bring into the world. A situation whereby parents pay no attention to the welfare of their children and despatch them to the streets to fend for themselves at an early age is not acceptable in the modern world.
Perhaps the illiterate parents of these children also need to be educated. Non-formal and adult education would make them understand the value of education and parental care. They should be taught to discourage early marriage and have fewer children. Parents who refuse to send their children, male or female, to school should be penalised.
Child begging is already an emergency situation. State and local governments should therefore look for urgent solutions. Good governance entails caring for the citizenry. Politicians should stop using destitute children to cause mayhem, especially at election times.
The North's leaders could borrow a leaf from Lagos State, for instance, which has almost completely rehabilitated street urchins called "area boys". Many former "area boys" now work as bricklayers, environmental workers and painters. Every human being has the potential to be useful, if given the right climate in which to thrive. Creating such environment should be the preoccupation of our leaders now.
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Governor Yari of Zamfara State has to be commended for taking the lead to address this menace which many Northern leaders of the past and present had hoped could be swept under the carpet. Unless these problems are confronted head-on, those who seek recruits into organizations that forment mayham may not have to look too far for willing participants. What these almajiras have been crying out for was for someone to show that they care, and are willing to work with community leaders to design vocational skills-content institutions whereby these children could learn a trade which could help them survive in the complex environment we call Nigeria.
I have written several times that one does not necessarily need a College degree or a University education to survive. Vocational schools can prepare students in such fields as car mechanics, plumbing, horticulture (agriculture), radio operators at construction sites, brick layers (masonry), roofers, electrical works (electricians), welders (surface and deep sea), artisans such as sign painters, water purification specialists, tire vulcanizers, machine shop operators, work-place instrument designers such as tools, cobblers (shoe repairs and designers), interior designers, carpet installers, certified truck drivers or commercial drivers, dry cleaners, air conditioning specialists and repairs, washing machine repairmen, insurance agents (certified), commercial fishermen, establishment of sanitized fish markets and properly credentialled health-certified fish-market workers, and a host other skills acquisition and certification projects, so that those leaving such institutions would have their foot in the employment doors, especially if such skills are advertised for employment purposes. These are the kind of projects Mr. Sanusi of the Central Bank could urge the government to institute, and force these destitute children to go and acquire bankable skills,
Education in any form postpones child bearing, and gives hope to survivability of our future generations. I actually fault all our leaders both past and present to have not tapped into this rich resource of manpower for the betterment of our Nigerian nation. Everybody talks about paper qualifications, especially University degrees. Unfortunately, because many of these students who have since left college and are therefore, unemployed, it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to seek ways to re-build the Nigerian nation by literally transforming the aspirations of these restive youth population into these skills-acquisition programmes, so that these children can find ways of surviving ----legally, rather than taking up arms to rob the public.
Instituting this programme should not just be in the North, it should be instituted throughout Nigeria. The issue of youth restlessness is not exclusively reserved for the North; it is a menace which has befallen everyone in the country. Also, the more we begin to de-emphasize on the importance of just acquiring a University Degree, instead of acquiring some sellable skills, the better it would be for everyone in the nation. In the United States, there are mechanics who make as much as $5-million dollars each year. Nigerian entrepreneurs should also establish institutions for manufacturing car parts by teaming up with car manufacturers such as Toyota, Damlier-Benz (Mercedes), KIA, Nissan Motors, Range Rover manufacturers, Honda Manufacturers and any other car manufacturers for the domestic production of their parts. Since the country is a huge market for these vehicles, it wouldn't make sense for car mechanics whose survival depends on how fast their customers are satisfied, to have to sit and wait 6-months sometimes before the parts they ordered for arrive back into the country. Ordering for these parts also causes investment capitals to be drained and sent to overseas manufacturers. As a result, whereas jobs are created in the environment where these parts are manufactured, Nigeria on the other hand loses these jobs which could have been generated locally through the manufacture of these products. By the same token, no industry can function effectively unless there is an uninterupted supply of electricity. This is where the government could do a whole lot more by restoring the confidence of entrepreneurs that they would have electricity for their manufacturing plants 24/7. You see, the solution to the country's youth problems are within our reach. All we have to do is to have the political will to make sure that the country's economy is planted on solid grounds.
Gov.Yari's is one more honest effort towards giving definition to the almajirsai syndrome. But he did not go far enough. He has incorrectly lumped the entire blame on the failure of Northern Governors. He also blames the creation of the monster partly on acquiescent Islamic values. The governor failed to recognize the significant part played by cultural and family values. For parents to procreate, make children and throw them into the alleyways is most irresponsible. Animals in the wild don't even do that. These animals don't let go until their young have been schooled on how to independently fend for themselves Any solution must include a cultural re-orientation and re-definition of core family values. There is no reason parents cannot engage growing in traditional household chores like in the farms or tending livestock, to begin with. It goes a long way to build strong family ties, instill positive traditional values and engender recognition of the dignity of labor. Families can do better than breed and release into the streets and regard same as norm or good religious practice. Mecca or Saudi Arabia, the headquarters if the Islamic faith does not complain of almajirai menace. Why then does the same religion hold its Nigerian faithfuls to the retrogressive practice? The Northern moslems may do well to seriously consider conversion to Christianity if the almajirai syndrome is real concern.