Most Quranic education school pupils, popularly called “Almajiri”, who live on the streets in the northern part of the country, are not Nigerians, Kano State governor Abdullahi Ganduje said on Monday, Dec 7.
While declaring open a 3-day retreat organised by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Kano, governor Ganduje said: “A lot of them are foreigners from Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroun.”
“From the survey we have conducted, most of the Almajiri roaming our streets are from Niger, Chad and the northern part of Cameroun.”
The theme of the retreat is, “Enhancing Basic Education in Nigeria towards a Robust Institutional Strengthening and Effective Stakeholder Engagement”.
According to Ganduje, the retreat is also important because it is coming at a time education has become the first victim of uncontrolled population, especially when it is not matched with appropriate economic development.
