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The Resultant Effect Of Almajiri System On Children And Establishing The Foundation Of The Problem



The Oasis Reporters



December 14, 2020

Children on Nigeria’s streets


By Attahiru Abdullahi



The North is divided into two distinct sets, with the Middle belt region and the Upper North Region as component parts.
The middle belt is made up of mainly Christians of Non Hausa and non Fulani origin while the upper North is predominantly Muslim Hausa to be precise. All except Borno State is predominantly Kanuri. Fulanis have merged together with Hausa people so you find them wherever Hausa people are.



The region is primarily ruled by a traditional system of government which exists within all the tribes, be they Christians or Muslims. In this present day Nigeria with the North cut down into many pieces, Kingdoms are reduced in size and many kings have lost their absolute power to the western system of government, otherwise known as the constitution.

While the Christian kings have embraced the new ideology of power and accepted their new place in modern Nigeria, the Muslims Kings are yet to embrace this new ideology hence the resistance.


The most powerful tool the Kings have against this new ideology of governance is Religion, they supported and made the Sharia Law to exist, even in this new age. They created the wall that separates us today, through indirectly selecting or influencing who gets political appointment from their respective control zones. They deliberately made the Local Governments to be rendered useless with no basic impact on the grass roots people.

The running cost of all Northern Monarchs come directly from the account of Local Government. While all the funds meant for grassroot development is channelled to sustain a useless and outdated idea, such that the people are left with the State Government and The Federal Government to cater for their responsibilities which means double expenses on Government.


Without funds local governments can’t manage primary facilities which will handle Almajiris through the provision of primary schools with effective management. This remains the core problem of the North. The Kings are close to the people than the politicians, they normally dictate who gets the people’s votes so no politician will challenge them. They align themselves with religious ideology, giving them more respect in the eyes of the people than the government.


Better education brings in educated people who can challenge the existence of the Kings in this modern era so the Kings will do everything possible to truncate the process of educating the people and which better way to do that than at the primary level.

Now with weak politicians who have no interest in fighting for the people, the nation will see no problem in producing Illiterates who will worship them rather than challenge them.

The only way out is to fully abolish the Traditional System altogether with every religious body and embrace the Constitution above all. Anything less than that will yield zero result for the long run.

The southern monarchy and the middle belt monarchy are culturally based while the far North monarchy is religiously based.

The southern and middle belt monarchy are for their people’s development through educating them and still holding on to Cultural heritage while the Far North are against their people’s development through western education rather they are pushing Arab Culture down on their people.

Now how do you change or upgrade such an idea without using force or without removing the obstacles?

In the end, it is all about control for them because without control, they can’t have power over their subjects. The monarchy controls the Imams, they control every Islamic establishment in Nigeria.


How can one change the North without going against the Monarchy?

Even the Arabic and Quranic knowledge only a handful are well taught on that and it is a deliberate attempt. While the elite send their children to well established Islamic Schools, the poor are sent to the poorly equipped ones with no supervisory Islamic centres mostly under the mercy of just one man, that man teaches these children under him his own ideology which reflects the interest of the monarchy in charge, if it doesn’t, they interfere. That’s how Boko Haram, Maitasine and co came into existence. They all started as Islamic Schools and ended up being insurgents,

The Government can abolish and replace it with a Strong Local Government and also preserve both the Religion and the Cultural Heritage.

That’s the only way out because, an uneducated North is advantageous to some while remaining a disadvantage to the whole Nation.

Greg Abolo

Blogger at The Oasis Reporters.

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