Almajiri & Coronavirus: Pikins wey dey beg for di middle of Nigeria COVID-19 palava
Wia dis foto come from, Jigawa state government
- Author, Nduka Orjinmo & Mansur Abubakar
- Role, BBC News, Lagos
Big-big politicians dem for northern Nigeria want make dem stop di Koranic schools dem afta some pikin hide dem sef for di middle of di coronavirus outbreak for di kintri according to BBC tori pipo.
Dis na as dem don pack tens of thousands of Koranic school pikin for open van like sardine dey go back house for move wey many pipo dey say no make sense but wey state goments dey use to prevent corononavirus from dia states.
Right now, ban dey for inter state travel but di vans dey allowed to carri pikin waka from state to state to carry di boys go house wherever e dey.
E be like na di biggest mass movement of pikin dem for Nigeria wey dia population of 200 million dey divided almost equally between Muslims and Christians.
Wia dis foto come from, AFP
Nobodi know how many of dis pikin dem, wey Hausa dey call almajirai (almajiri for one pesin) wey come rom di Arabic word al-Muhajirun wey mean emigrant, don go house but Kaduna say dem don send reach 30,000 go back house.
But no bodi bin sabi say some of di pikin dey cari coronavirus for bodi and na so officials contribute to share di virus like na palliative.
'Time bomb warning wey nobodi wan hear'
As di pikin dem land for dia home state dem cari some of dem put for quarantine and test dem, 65 positive cases for Kaduna state and 91 for Jigawa state.
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
For Gombe dem record eight positive cases and for Bauchi na seven.
End of Di one wey oda users dey read well well
Ds na as dem still dey wait for hundreds of test results and never even test thousands more.
But di head of di Nigerian presidential task force for Covid-19 Boss Mustapha bin wanrn say dis kain waka go cccause wahala but northern govnors no listen.
Dem see di pandemic as opportunity to scrap almajiri Koranic schools wey don dey as Islamic education for di mostly Muslim north.
In Kaduna state, the almajiri system is dead"
Even sef Kaduna state govnor, Nasir el-Rufai say, "we don dey find wetin to use end dis system because e no dey work for di pikin dem, northern Nigeria or Nigeria sef."
E say e beta to give almajiria modern education so dem no go waste dia lives dey beg for road.
Almajirai na mostly pikin wey come from poor homes and go stay for boarding house type place for five to ten years dey memorize Koran with teacher wey dem dey call mallam.
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
About 10.5 million Nigerian children aged between five and 14 years are not in school, according to the UN children's agency, Unicef.
Unicef no dey consider almajirai as pikin dem wey dey go school so dem make up a large part - if not di majority - of dis number.
Pikin wey dey beg for road
Dis schools dem dey admit pikin wey dey as young as five, and dem suppose give di teachers 100 naira evri Wednesday wey be end of week.
Di mallams say di money dey maintain di school and dem no dey chop di money.
But di pikin dem no fit find di money from anywia wey dey make dem enta road to beg or menial work to see di money.
Di mallams sef no get money, no dey regulated or get any tainingg. Ans most dey do farming wey di almajirai dey join hand without pay.
Islamic teachings on hygiene:
- Cleanliness na half of di religion
- Wash hands before and afta chop
- Wash hands afta you go toilet
- Wash hands, face and feet before di five daily prayers
- Baff before you go prayers on Friday
- Wash pesin afta e die; some preachers say e dey fine if e no dey possible to do am for dis period
Di schools dem close for March wen state goments shut down places of learning and na dem state goments use fear of spreading di virus start di process to send di almajirai go house, afta dem start to dey beg for street again.
But e happun too late,
No one sabi how di pikin dem get di virus but former almajiri, Imrana Mohammed say na from di beggars wey dem meet as dem bin dey meet wen dem dey beg.
Oga Mohammed wey dey run small petroleum business say wen e be almajiri 14 years ago, e bin dey do house boy work for $6 dollars per month and for food to chop.
Tok-tok don dey to end di system but e dey very sensitive inside region wia religion na extremely sensitive issue,
Pipo wey dey support di schools accuse those wey want to reform am of attempting to stop Islamic education.
Hopes of papa
Former presido Goodluck Jonathan bin sink billions of Nigeria for almajiri schools for north wey go combine Islamic and circular education.
But Muhammadu Buhari, don say make dem ban almajiri system give di schools dem to state goments and Islamic scholars make dem manage dem.
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
Some parents, like Shafiu Yau, no want make dem scrap di system "because na way to heaven".
E tell BBC say im 15 year old son be almajiri for Kano State for im second year as no be evri pesin dem pursue go house and e dey hope say afta five years di boy go come back with Koran knowledge but no be evri pesin dey tink like am.
The almajiri system, as it is today, is nothing but slavery"
Sheikh Abdullahi Garangamawa, wey be chief imam for Jafar Adam Mosque for northern Nigeria main city Kano, tell BBC say dem don abuse di almajiri system.
"Di almajiri as e dey now na slavery and goment need to act fact.
"Instead of di boys to dey learn Islamic knowledge, na criminals and jaguda for politicians be dia work now."
Dis na harsh take on almajiri for northern Nigeria but e no go end until di goment tackle poverty and give di pikin and dia parents beta life.
