Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said on Monday that most Quranic education school pupils, popularly referred to as Almajiri, who roam the streets in the northern part of the country are not Nigerians.
“A lot of them are foreigners from Niger Republic, Chad, and Cameroun,” Ganduje said while declaring open, a three-day retreat organised by the Universal Basic Education Commission in Kano.
“From the survey, we have conducted, most of the ‘Almajiri’ roaming our streets are from Niger, Chad and the northern part of Cameroun.
“Once you improve the quality of ‘Almajiri’ education system, you are inviting other ‘Almajiri’ from other places to come to your state. That is another problem.
“The northern governors are putting more pressure toward having a universal legislation that will limit the migration from one state to another.”
The governor’s comments come despite the substantial transfer of the Almajirai in each northern state to their state of origin in the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in the second quarter of the year.
Ganduje disclosed that free and compulsory primary and secondary school education, as well as the transformation of the Almajiri education system, were some of his major priorities in the education sector.
