Senator Shehu Sani has condemned the move to ‘deport’ Almajiri children as part of efforts to limit the spread of the coronavirus in the north.
The former lawmaker’s comments follow a plan by Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, to return Almajiri children to their hometowns.
In a tweet on Monday, Sani described the move as ‘unconscionable’, although he did not mention names.
“To embrace and accommodate the Almajiri for elections and census and reject and ‘deport’ them for #COVIDー19 is unconscionable,” he wrote.
Ganduje revealed his administration’s plan on Sunday, saying a ‘high-powered’ Almajiri committee had been set up under the leadership of the Commissioner for Local Government, Murtala Garo.
“We closed all schools in the state to curb the spread of the pandemic but we found out that existence of almajiri schools is constituting a stumbling block,” he said.
“We have complete records of all almajiris and their schools in Kano. So far, over 2,000 almajiris had gone back to their states.”
The governor added: “For the third category who are sleeping on the streets, markets and under the bridge, we will take them to our boarding schools where we will provide them with uniforms and feeding.”
