(http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Babangida-Aliyu-Governor-Niger-State-300x173.jpg) (http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Babangida-Aliyu-Governor-Niger-State.jpg)Niger state governor Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu has called on the Federal government not to ban the almajiri system in the country saying that it will affect the culture of the people.
He made this known yesterday in Minna when he received the Senate Committee on Education led by Senator Uche Chukwumerije who visited him in Government House, saying that the country has to put in place another system that would absorb the almajiris in the country by properly integrating them into the formal education system.
According to him, "in the Senate, I overheard the Senators asking the northern governors to ban Almajiri school system; you do not ban a culture without putting something in place.
"I am so happy with Universal Basic Education's (UBEC) arrangement because of the way they have reduced chances of corruption in our school system. I believe we are doing something about almajiri system and I agree that the way we are doing it now, building almajiri schools will not solve the problems.
"They must be treated as citizens and not to make it look like a stigma, it is not a question of banning it, but it is a matter of what do we do to make sure that they are absorb into formal school system," he said.
"Many of these children can not trace their parents because they were scattered all over the northern states and beyond. It is something we need to sit down and tackle properly."
Furthermore, he said, the problem of the almajirai cannot be solved by merely building almajiri schools but knowing their number and making adequate provision for their integration.
According to him "in Niger state alone, there are 3784 Quranic schools with a population of nearly 500,000, some of the pupils in the Quranic schools have grown beyond the school going age for primary schools."
Earlier, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education Senator Uche Chukwumerije had applauded the giant steps taken by the Niger state government to turn the education sector around saying that "Niger state is one of the states that we can proudly hold up as a leading light in education in the country".
He added that 21 states in the country are lagging behind in the payment of their counterpart fund to the Universal Basic Education Programme, a development he explained, has been retarding the growth of the education sector.
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