ENGAUSA ALMAJIRAI:Uncommon Modern Way of Changing Almajiri Narrative

ENGAUSA ALMAJIRAI : Uncommon Modern Way of Changing Almajiri Narrative

The innovative ALMAJIRI SCHOOL initiatives of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathon was, directly or indirectly, challenging all our Northern Elites on the intense need for a proper plan and execution of the any sustainable way of curtailing the menace of our bastardised Almajiri System of Education. He did his best during his tenure, and we are expecting the incumbent government and the next one to build on where the immediate past government stopped, to ensure continuity.

I don’t know how Northern Nigeria is becoming so loose that our communities find it difficult to maintain such essential infrastructures like those installed in the ALMAJIRI SCHOOL SYSTEM initiated by GEJ government. We allowed the structures and the equipment to rot away, instead of optimising the system. We abandoned the schools and no one cares to adopt the strategy even in our localities, neither from our individual philanthropists nor from the NGO’s within our communities.

Most of our elites are only good in criticism, you will never see them when it comes to action, they rather spend their energy on empty discussions and promises. While in a situation like the one Arewa is subjected in to, action is mostly needed, with less noises. Though we all agree that “facta non verba”, actions speak louder than words, we always end up talking the wrong walk, instead of walking the right talks.

Alhamdu Lillah, we started a model of such a system within our jurisdiction, called ENGAUSAR ALMAJIRAI, under Engausa Global Tech. Hub, which had recently attracted an intervention from NITDA Nigeria and from a solo philantropist from JOS PLATUE STATE, Alh. Yusuf Yahaya Kwande. I don’t want to say much about the outcomes at the moment, until we achieve much enough to discuss. I always prepare walking the talk instead of the opposite.

We had witnessed a similar effort of revamping the TSANGAYA SYSTEM, in Kano State, during Mal. Shekarau’s tenure. Where the Tasanga (Almajiri School) System was transformed to provide a sustainable livelihood of both ALMAJIRAI and their teachers (Malaman Tsangaya). Unfortunately, the innovative Tsangaya System, sphere-headed by Dr. Bashir Galadanci, a man with a sincerity of purpose, was abolished by the successor of Mal. Shekarau. And all the achievements recorded from the innovative system were brought back to square one.

Moreover, this is how the monotonous lack of continuity in governance, lack of patriotism and focus are consuming every program or policy designed to transform our socioeconomic and sociocultural activities. The same way KANO ICT PARK and JIGAWA GALAXY BACK BORNE and INFORMATICS suffered from the unpatriotic people at the helm of the affairs of Nothern Nigeria. Both Jigawa and Kano would have been ahead of Lagos in terms of digital ecosystem and digital economy, because as at 2005, Jigawa was the best ICT State in Nigeria, as a result of the achievements recorded from those iconic “digital wings”.

Our society is in need of a new set of purposeful leaders, the likes of Borno State Governor (Zulum), who are ready to sacrifice their lives for any struggle necessary to save our society from obscurity to prominence. With such Zulum’s obvious achievements, the progress recorded under Shekarau in Kano, and that of Goodluck at the federal level, we now have a concrete reason to disagree with anyone who thinks Nigerians will never be taken to the proverbial promised land