After several years of playing politics with the evils surrounding operations of the Almajiri system in the region, Northern governors, under the auspices of the Northern Governors Forum, have agreed to ban the Almajiri system from operating in all the 19 states.
The action was taken in view of the risk Almajiri children are exposed to at a time the Coronavirus pandemic is spreading across the country.
The resolution was taken by the governors during their second tele-conference meeting held under the chairmanship of Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State.
They resolved at the end of their conference to return the Almajiri children to their parents or to their states of origin in the North.
In a statement issued in Jos through the Director of Press to Governor Lalong, Dr. Simon Makut Macham, and made available to journalists, the governors agreed that each of them should take a cue from Kaduna and Nasarawa states that had begun returning Almajiri children to their families and states of origin, while those within their states who did not have parents were taken care of by the government.
They vowed not to allow Almajiri system persist any longer in the North because of the socio-economic challenges associated with it, including the perpetuation of poverty, illiteracy, insecurity and social disorder.
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According to the statement, the governors also engaged the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Mohammed Sabo Nanono, on the incentives available to farmers and how farmers in the Northern region could benefit from the incentives.
Nanono on his part, briefed the Northern governors on all the agricultural incentives of the Federal Government, including the provision of farm inputs and fertiliser cluster farming and deployment of extension workers among several other programmes.
The Northern governors also raised alarm over the challenges of insecurity in parts of the states, especially Boko Haram, insurgents and kidnappers that they feared would pose as threats to the operations of local farmers in the region.
They agreed to engage heads of security agencies and the Federal Government to urgently address these problems as they were desperately working towards turning the economic challenges posed by Coronavirus pandemic into opportunities for diversification and emancipation of the people of the region.
The governors also set up a seven-man committee under the chairmanship of the governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, to fashion out economic prospects for Northern region.
The committee was also saddled with the responsibility of positioning the region to be less dependent on the federal government monthly revenue allocation and prepare the region for the future by diversifying to areas of comparative advantage such as agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and human capital development.
The governors also noted that so far, the lockdown in some states of the North had varying levels of success.
The Forum equally resolved to strengthen preventive measures against the Coronavirus pandemic through enhanced border control and surveillance and greater collaboration among the 19 states of the Northern Nigeria on movement restriction.
The governors raised concerns that enforcing cross border movements remained a challenge as some of the cases recorded in some of the states were imported from outside despite closure of border by the states.
They agreed that at the moment, each state should adopt the measures suitable to its setting as total lockdown of the region would produce a very high cost as most of their citizens are farmers who need to go to farm as raining season has started.
They also called on the Federal Government to give Northern states palliatives just like it was given to some Southern states as some of the states in the North have recorded cases of Coronavirus infection.
They canvassed for special grants from the Federal Government since they had spent so much from their states’ treasuries on preventive measures on Coronavirus pandemic.
Lalong was mandated to liaise with the Presidential Task Force COVID-10 and private sector donor basket to benefit from available palliatives and donations.
