Twenty -One former Almajiri children have graduated as certified technology technicians and entrepreneurs from the Out-of-School Children/Almajiri-to-Tech Foundation.

 

The children made up of 14 male and 7 female were thought various skills ranging from repair of telephone handsets, Laptops, Desktops Power banks, Fans , Televisions , Microwaves oven, Torchlight and how to assemble their own computers and Robots and Drones.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony on organised by the Almajiri-to-Tech Foundation Wednesday in Abuja, former Inspector General of Police , Mohammed Abubakar who decried the high number of Almajiri and street children in the country, blamed the problem on systemic failure.

 

He noted that the estimate which puts out of school children in Nigeria at 30 million is an understatement, insisting that the number is higher.

Abubakar warned we are not safe if we fail to take care of out of school children including the unemployed youths in the country.

 

He said, “The problem of out of school children in Nigeria is a national issue and not a northern problem. But let’s assume it is a Northern problem. The constitution stipulates that I have the right to be anywhere I want to be in Nigeria. So if I find myself in Lagos or in Anambra, what happens? I become a problem to you. There’s a system breakdown. So that system breakdown needs to be mended.

 

“The 30 million out of school children could be an understatement, in 2006, we did a sample population of okada riders in Kano and it was 3 million then. Imagine what the number will be by now. We are not safe when we don’t take care of out of school children including the unemployed youths in the country”.

Abubakar called on the Almajiri Commission to rise up to it’s responsibility and urged northern governors to take concrete steps to address the menace.

“Where are our governors? Especially the northern governors. Where are they? Majority of these children are from the north. We need to take urgent steps to take these children off the streets. The government has to come up with a solution, they realize there’s a challenge for them to have an Almajiri commission. So let the Almajiri commission, in conjunction with our state governors, do the needful and take care of this problem”, he added.

 

Also speaking, President of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr ike Neliaku described the training of the former Almajiri children as technicians as an act of humanity and a call for responsibility.

 

He said, ” We are witnessing the graduation of 21 Almajiri children who are today having technical skills to be able to repair computers, radio sets, television sets. Fans, and other things. We have this menace of out-of-school children which is a serious challenge in the country. A single individual today has put his resources forward to initiate his. What Mr Tim Akano, who is a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations is doing is in line with the kind of value that the Institute adds to the society. We are very proud of him”.

Earlier, the founder, Almajiri-to-Tech Foundation, and Managing Director of New Horizons System Solutions Limited, Mr Tim Akano noted that about six months ago, some of the 21 children that graduated could not write their names in English and expressed joy that the same children today can build computers, robots and drones with their own hands and can repair over 10 types of electrical appliances all in months.

 

He said, “That is not a graduation. That is a resurrection.How many more resurrections is Nigeria willing to postpone?

 

Akano lamented that the 30 million out-of-school Almajiri children in Nigeria today represents the population of Taiwan- Singapore combined $1.4 trillion economies. “Same human beings. Same brains. If they were a country, they would be West Africa’s 4th biggest. We’re running our greatest resource at 36% capacity (World Bank) and calling it normal, 2 of the world’s 4 deadliest terror groups — Nigeria, substance abuse up to 60% among northern youth, northern poverty: 70-80 percent and in 2015, Nigeria was named world’s poverty capital’.

Akano emphasized that conferences don’t empower a single child but action does adding that the problem of out of school children in the country is solvable in 5 years if the government finds the will.

“These children never wanted to beg. They wanted a door”.

He called on the government to launch Vision 2031 to ensure that no Child Left on the Street and also criminalise child abandonment, criminalise begging after building alternatives, provide free, compulsory, enforced basic education and decentralise Islamiyya education to communities among others.

 

Akano appealed to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr Nyeson Wike to provide a building for. the Out-of-School/Almajiri Republic Technicians.