Some stakeholders in Gombe have advised the Federal Government to take a bold step by banning the Almajiri system of education in the country as a way of solving the Boko Haram insurgency that has bedeviled the North-East sub-region for several years.
Speaking during a town hall meeting in Gombe, organized by the Economic Development Sub-committee of the Presidential Committee on North-East Initiative (PCNI), some of the stakeholders who participated in the discussion were unanimous in calling for the scraping of the Islamic system of education practiced by some Muslims.
According to them, the system was what brought about the case of the Boko Haram militants who took cover under Islam and brought untold hardship to many Nigerians as a result of the mindless killings and destruction of thousands of lives and property especially in the North-East.
One of the stakeholders said, “there is nothing Islamic about the group anyway and from the way you see children at the tender age of 13 being brought under one malam in a very terrible condition to learn Islamic education, does not allow that child to have a peaceful heart if he grows to adulthood under that condition”.
“The child is deprived of any parental love and care, no good morals, very bad and unhealthy environment, and above all, they are hunger stricken. How can a child grow with a good heart in that kind of condition?” he queried.
Earlier, the Sub-committee Chairman of the Economic Development committee of the PCNI, Hon. Yusuf Buba Yakub told the Gombe State Deputy Governor during a courtesy call in his office that President Muhammadu Buhari was so passionate about turning around the fortunes of the North-East.
He said that is the reason why the PCNI came into being with a three year mandate that is hinged on five sub-committees which include Humanitarian, Security, Education, Finance and Economic Development.
In his remark, the Gombe State Deputy Governor, Hon. Charles Iliya, who received the members of the Committee on behalf of Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankambo, said people of the North-East and especially Gombe, are very thankful to President Buhari for returning peace to the zone.
He said Gombe State had had its fair share of the effects of the insurgency both directly and indirectly which resulted in massive influx of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) into Gombe. According to him, this has overstretched facilities in the state meant for a population of a little over two million to a population of over four million.
