The Almajiri institution occupies an important place in the historical, religious and cultural development of Northern Nigeria. Rooted in the tradition of seeking Islamic knowledge, Almajiranci once represented a respected arrangement through which children travelled from their communities to acquire Qur’anic education under the supervision of Islamic scholars. It was sustained by a community-based system of responsibility involving parents, religious institutions, traditional authorities, merchants and the wider society.
Over time, however, the institutional and economic foundations supporting this arrangement weakened. The contemporary manifestation of Almajiranci, particularly in several urban centres across Northern Nigeria, has become associated with child neglect, street begging, educational exclusion, inadequate healthcare, exploitation and serious violations of children’s rights.
This paper examines the historical evolution of the institution, the circumstances responsible for its deterioration, and the implications for education, social cohesion, public security and the future of Northern Nigeria. It argues that the crisis is not fundamentally a religious problem but a failure of governance, institutional adaptation, parental accountability and collective social responsibility.
The paper further examines the experiences of selected Muslim-majority countries, including Senegal, Indonesia and Morocco, to demonstrate that the preservation of Islamic education is compatible with modern educational standards, child protection and economic empowerment.
It concludes that the time has come for Northern Nigeria to move beyond sentimental defences of an increasingly dysfunctional arrangement. A comprehensive reform programme must protect the integrity of Qur’anic education while ending the exploitation and abandonment of children. This requires enforceable legislation, institutional registration, properly funded Tsangaya schools, parental accountability, curriculum integration, social protection and sustained political commitment.
The central argument is simple: “A society cannot claim to defend its religious heritage while neglecting the children entrusted to its care.”
Keywords: Almajiri, Almajiranci, Tsangaya, Child Protection, Northern Nigeria, Islamic Education, Human Security, Educational Reform, Social Responsibility.
1.0 INTRODUCTION: THE CHILD AT 5:30 AM
At approximately 5:30 in the morning, while many Nigerian children are still asleep in the comfort of their homes, thousands of other children are already navigating the streets of Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina, Gusau, Bauchi, Maiduguri and other urban settlements across Northern Nigeria.
Some carry plastic bowls. Others move from one household to another, from roadside restaurants to motor parks, from markets to residential neighbourhoods, searching for food, small donations and whatever assistance the day may offer.
They are children. Many are between five and fifteen years of age. Some are younger.
They are Almajirai.
Their presence has become so familiar that society has gradually normalised what should ordinarily provoke a national moral emergency. We encounter them at traffic intersections, outside mosques, around markets and at the entrances of public buildings. We occasionally give them food or money, congratulate ourselves for having performed an act of charity and continue with our daily activities.
Yet, behind every bowl held out by a child is a question that Northern Nigeria has avoided confronting for far too long.
Who is responsible for this child?
Who provides his food? Who pays for his healthcare? Who protects him from abuse? Who ensures that he sleeps in a safe environment? Who takes responsibility when he falls ill, disappears, becomes a victim of exploitation or is drawn into criminal activity?
And perhaps the most uncomfortable question: where are his parents?
The word Almajiri derives from the Arabic concept of *Al-Muhajir*, traditionally associated with migration in pursuit of religious knowledge. In its historical context, the practice was connected to the movement of young learners from their communities to established centres of Islamic scholarship.
There was a time when this arrangement was supported by a recognisable social and economic structure. Parents, Mallams, traditional institutions, wealthy individuals and the wider community shared responsibility for the education and welfare of the child.
What we are witnessing today in many places is a substantial departure from that original arrangement.
The search for knowledge has, in numerous instances, become a struggle for survival. The learner has become a street beggar. The educational institution has frequently lost its capacity to provide basic welfare, while the wider society has become increasingly comfortable with the spectacle of childhood deprivation.
This paper is therefore not an indictment of Islam, Qur’anic education or the Mallam as an institution of religious scholarship.
It is an indictment of a society that has allowed a valuable educational tradition to deteriorate without developing the institutional mechanisms necessary to preserve its original purpose.
It is an examination of a failure that belongs simultaneously to parents, religious authorities, traditional institutions, political leadership and the Nigerian state.
Most importantly, it is a call for reform before the consequences become even more difficult to reverse.
2.0 HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS: WHEN ALMAJIRANCI WAS A COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY
To understand the present crisis, it is important to distinguish the historical institution from its contemporary manifestation.
Islamic education has a long history in Northern Nigeria, predating colonial administration. The expansion of Islamic scholarship across the region was associated with the development of Qur’anic schools, scholarly networks, Islamic courts and centres of religious learning.
The Sokoto Caliphate and the scholarly institutions that developed around it strengthened the place of Islamic education in the social and political organisation of the region.
The Tsangaya system became one of the recognised channels through which children acquired Qur’anic knowledge. The teacher, commonly known as the Mallam, occupied a respected position as an educator and custodian of religious learning.
The arrangement was not simply a matter of depositing children with religious teachers and withdrawing parental responsibility.
It operated within a broader social environment in which communities contributed food, shelter, agricultural produce, financial support and other necessities. Religious endowments, zakat, sadaqah and the contributions of wealthy individuals helped sustain educational activities.
The system therefore depended on a social compact.
Parents provided children and maintained a relationship with their welfare. Mallams provided instruction and moral supervision. Communities supported the institution. Traditional authorities provided legitimacy and, in varying circumstances, oversight.
The child was not supposed to become an abandoned individual whose survival depended entirely on begging.
The historical lesson is significant: Almajiranci was never intended to function independently of social responsibility.
Its survival depended on the strength of the community that sustained it.
2.1 Colonial Disruption and the Weakening of Traditional Support
The colonial period introduced a profound transformation in the educational and administrative structure of Northern Nigeria.
Western-style education became increasingly associated with government employment, administrative advancement and access to emerging economic opportunities. The traditional Qur’anic education system, meanwhile, received limited integration into the new administrative and educational architecture.
This development contributed to the widening institutional divide between formal Western education and traditional Islamic learning.
However, it would be historically simplistic to attribute the present crisis exclusively to colonial policy. Colonial disruption was one factor in a longer process involving economic transformation, changing patterns of urbanisation, population growth, poverty, declining community support and the failure of successive governments to establish a sustainable integration framework.
After independence, Northern Nigeria inherited a dual educational environment without developing a sufficiently comprehensive mechanism for ensuring that children in traditional Qur’anic schools could enjoy the same basic protections and opportunities as other Nigerian children.
Successive administrations acknowledged the problem. Various committees, policy statements, educational programmes and integration initiatives were announced.
Yet, the structural weaknesses remained.
The consequences are now visible across several Northern communities.
3.0 THE TRANSFORMATION: FROM THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE TO THE ECONOMY OF SURVIVAL
The contemporary Almajiri crisis cannot be explained by religion alone. It is rooted in the interaction of poverty, weak public institutions, inadequate educational access, population pressure and the erosion of parental and community responsibility.
Many parents send their children to Qur’anic schools because they genuinely desire religious education for them. Others do so because they cannot afford conventional schooling or because the Tsangaya arrangement offers an accessible alternative.
There are also circumstances in which family breakdown, economic hardship and the absence of adequate social protection influence the decision.
The difficulty arises when the educational arrangement is not accompanied by a corresponding provision for the child’s basic needs.
A Mallam who accepts more children than he can adequately feed, accommodate and supervise may eventually find himself unable to fulfil even the most elementary obligations of child care.
Where there is no organised feeding arrangement, children may be encouraged or compelled to solicit food and money from members of the public.
This is where the distinction between religious education and institutional neglect becomes particularly important.
A child who spends a substantial portion of his day searching for food cannot be expected to enjoy the full benefits of education.
A child who sleeps in an unsafe environment cannot be considered adequately protected merely because he attends Qur’anic lessons.
And a child whose survival depends on the generosity of strangers is not necessarily experiencing the moral and educational discipline that the original institution was intended to provide.
The problem is not that children are learning the Qur’an.
The problem is that, in many circumstances, the society has failed to provide the conditions under which they can learn it with dignity.
4.0 THE SCALE OF THE CRISIS: A GENERATION AT RISK
The scale of the challenge is substantial.
UNICEF has historically cited estimates of approximately ten million Almajiri children in Nigeria, although the exact number remains difficult to establish because of differences in definitions, coverage and the absence of a comprehensive contemporary national census of the population.
UNICEF’s 2024 Situation Analysis of Children and Adolescents in Nigeria also highlights the severe vulnerability of children within the Qur’anic education system. It cites an estimate of approximately 10.5 million children entering Qur’anic education, with many concentrated in the North-West and experiencing overlapping forms of deprivation.
The report identifies inadequate access to basic services, violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation and other vulnerabilities affecting sections of this population.
The significance of these findings goes beyond the numerical estimate.
We are dealing with a population of children whose circumstances require a coordinated response involving education, healthcare, nutrition, child protection, family support and local administration.
It is important, however, not to confuse all children attending Qur’anic schools with street children or victims of exploitation. Many receive meaningful religious instruction and live in arrangements supported by their families and communities.
The crisis is particularly concentrated in poorly regulated and inadequately funded settings where the welfare of the child is subordinated to the immediate demands of survival.
That distinction must inform any serious policy response.
The objective should not be to stigmatise every Almajiri child or every Mallam. It should be to identify and reform the institutional arrangements that expose children to unacceptable conditions.
5.0 THE HUMAN COST: THE CHILDREN WE HAVE LEFT BEHIND
The most disturbing dimension of the crisis is the cumulative impact of deprivation on childhood development.
5.1 Physical Neglect and Nutritional Insecurity
A child who spends hours searching for food is already experiencing a serious failure of protection.
Many vulnerable children lack regular access to balanced meals, clean drinking water, sanitary facilities and appropriate medical attention.
Some sleep in overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation. Others spend the night in mosques, unfinished buildings, motor parks and other public spaces.
These conditions expose them to preventable diseases, malnutrition, injuries and environmental hazards.
Childhood is a critical period of physical and cognitive development. Persistent nutritional deprivation and untreated illness can affect learning capacity, physical growth and long-term productivity.
A society that allows children to grow up under such circumstances is not merely confronting an educational problem. It is compromising its own human capital.
5.2 Psychological and Emotional Deprivation
There is also a dimension that receives insufficient attention: the emotional and psychological welfare of the child.
Children require attachment, reassurance, affection, stability and a sense of belonging.
Where a child is separated from his parents for extended periods, receives inadequate supervision and is compelled to navigate an unfamiliar environment, the risk of emotional distress increases.
Not every child living away from home experiences abandonment, and many develop strong relationships with their teachers and peers.
Nevertheless, prolonged separation without reliable family contact and adequate care can create serious developmental challenges.
The question is whether we are sufficiently attentive to the emotional lives of these children or whether we have reduced their existence to the number of Qur’anic verses they can memorise.
Religious knowledge and emotional security should not be competing objectives.
5.3 Educational Exclusion and the Future of the Northern Economy
Northern Nigeria is already confronted with substantial educational disadvantages.
A child who receives only a limited educational experience, without access to functional literacy, numeracy and other foundational competencies, faces serious obstacles when attempting to participate in the contemporary economy.
The ability to memorise and recite the Qur’an is a valuable religious achievement. It should not, however, become a barrier to acquiring mathematics, science, language, technology and vocational competencies.
The modern economy increasingly rewards a combination of knowledge, practical skills, innovation and adaptability.
If a significant proportion of young people leave childhood without these competencies, the consequences will be felt in productivity, employment, entrepreneurship and regional competitiveness.
Northern Nigeria cannot realistically aspire to industrialisation, agricultural modernisation, technological advancement and a knowledge-based economy while a substantial section of its younger population remains excluded from foundational education.
This is not an argument against Islamic scholarship.
It is an argument for broadening the opportunities available to its students.
5.4 Exploitation, Trafficking and the Absence of Protection
The absence of reliable identification, monitoring and institutional accountability creates opportunities for exploitation.
Children who are separated from their families and move between communities may become vulnerable to forced labour, street hawking, abusive treatment, trafficking and other forms of exploitation.
The problem is compounded when parents do not know the precise circumstances in which their children are living or when there is no effective mechanism for reporting abuse.
A child who cannot be readily identified, traced or reunited with his family is particularly vulnerable.
The appropriate response is not speculation about sensational allegations that have not been independently established. It is to confront the documented risks and build systems that prevent children from disappearing into unregulated environments.
Every child should have a verifiable identity, a known parent or guardian, an accountable educational institution and access to a functioning child-protection mechanism.
5.5 The Security Implications: Vulnerability Is Not Destiny
The relationship between child deprivation and national security deserves particular attention.
Northern Nigeria has endured prolonged episodes of insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, communal violence and organised criminal activity.
These challenges have multiple causes, including weak governance, criminal economies, ideological extremism, arms proliferation, local grievances, poverty and failures of law enforcement.
It would be inaccurate to suggest that Almajiri children as a group constitute a terrorist or bandit recruitment network. Such a generalisation would stigmatise innocent children and obscure the complexity of the security situation.
Nevertheless, a population of neglected, economically insecure and socially excluded young people presents a vulnerability that organised criminal groups can exploit.
Where criminal networks offer money, food, protection, identity or a sense of belonging, children and adolescents without stable support systems may be particularly susceptible to manipulation.
The issue is therefore one of vulnerability, not predetermined criminality.
The state must recognise that security is not produced exclusively through military operations, arrests and intelligence gathering.
It is also produced through education, family stability, social protection, employment opportunities and the protection of children.
The most effective long-term security strategy is one that prevents the emergence of conditions in which criminal organisations can recruit from a population already abandoned by society.
6.0 THE RELIGIOUS DIMENSION: DEFENDING ISLAM BY PROTECTING CHILDREN
One of the unfortunate consequences of the Almajiri debate is the tendency to interpret criticism of its contemporary manifestations as an attack on Islam.
This is a false and counterproductive position.
Islamic education is not the problem. The Qur’an is not the problem. The Mallam, as a teacher and religious guide, is not inherently the problem.
The problem is the misuse of religious legitimacy to defend arrangements that fail to protect children.
Islam places enormous importance on the welfare of children, parental obligations, compassion, justice and the protection of the vulnerable.
The Qur’anic instruction in Surah Al-Isra, 17:31, warns against killing children out of fear of poverty. The verse reflects the fundamental importance of preserving life and rejecting economic desperation as a justification for harming children.
Similarly, the hadith recorded in Sahih Muslim concerning the sin of neglecting those under one’s responsibility reinforces the principle that responsibility for dependants cannot simply be transferred or abandoned.
The implication for the Almajiri debate is profound.
Religious education cannot be separated from the moral obligation to provide food, shelter, healthcare, protection and appropriate care.
A Mallam who teaches the Qur’an should not be expected to perform miracles without resources. Equally, the absence of resources cannot justify subjecting children to neglect or exploitation.
Parents cannot transfer their entire responsibility to religious teachers.
Governments cannot transfer their responsibility to parents.
Traditional rulers cannot transfer their responsibility to government.
And society cannot transfer its collective moral responsibility to the occasional donor who gives a child a few coins.
The defence of Islamic education must therefore include the defence of the dignity of the children who participate in it.
7.0 THE FAILURE OF GOVERNANCE: WHERE DID THE STATE GO WRONG?
The Almajiri crisis has been discussed for decades. It has featured in government programmes, educational policy documents, political speeches and public debates.
The problem is not an absence of awareness.
It is the absence of sustained institutional execution.
One important example is the Federal Government’s Almajiri Education Programme initiated during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The programme sought to integrate Qur’anic education with basic formal education through the establishment of Almajiri model schools.
Reports on the programme document the construction of 157 schools between 2010 and 2015. Subsequent investigations, however, reported deterioration and underutilisation of some facilities, illustrating the consequences of inadequate continuity, maintenance and institutional ownership.
The programme represented an important recognition that traditional Islamic education and modern basic education could coexist.
Its weaknesses also revealed a recurring Nigerian governance problem: the tendency to concentrate on constructing facilities without adequately securing the operational arrangements required to sustain them.
A school building is not an educational system.
It requires teachers, feeding arrangements, learning materials, management, supervision, funding and community ownership.
Without these, even a well-designed intervention can become another abandoned public investment.
The failure to establish a reliable national database of Almajiri children and Tsangaya institutions is another major weakness.
Without credible information, governments cannot accurately determine the number of children requiring intervention, the location of schools, the number of teachers, the welfare conditions of pupils or the resources required.
The consequence is policy-making driven too often by estimates, political announcements and isolated interventions.
The Federal Government, state governments, local government authorities and relevant religious institutions must therefore move from episodic interventions to a properly coordinated national framework.
8.0 COMPARATIVE EXPERIENCE: WHAT CAN NIGERIA LEARN FROM OTHER MUSLIM COUNTRIES?
Nigeria is not the only Muslim-majority country that has confronted the challenge of traditional religious education, child begging and the need to reconcile religious instruction with modern educational requirements.
The experiences of other countries offer useful lessons, although their institutions and social circumstances are not identical to those of Northern Nigeria.
8.1 Senegal: The Talibé Experience and the Challenge of Child Begging
Senegal provides one of the closest comparisons.
Its traditional Daara system provides Qur’anic education to children known as Talibé. In some circumstances, children have been compelled to beg on the streets to support their upkeep or the institutions in which they study.
The country has developed legal and policy measures to address the exploitation of children.
Senegal’s Law No. 2005-06 against trafficking and related practices includes provisions addressing the exploitation of begging. The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child has also examined the situation of Talibé children and the state’s obligations.
The important lesson is that legislation alone does not eliminate the problem. Enforcement, adequate funding, alternative care arrangements and cooperation with religious leaders are essential.
Nigeria should study both the achievements and the shortcomings of the Senegalese experience rather than assume that criminalisation by itself will solve the problem.
8.2 Indonesia: Modernising Islamic Boarding Education
Indonesia offers another useful model through its extensive Pesantren system.
Islamic boarding institutions operate within a more developed regulatory and educational environment. Government regulations provide for the recognition and organisation of Pesantren education, including arrangements for religious learning and institutional development.
Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs Regulation No. 31 of 2020 on Pesantren Education illustrates the importance of establishing a formal framework for religious educational institutions.
The wider lesson is that traditional Islamic education can maintain its religious identity while developing institutional standards, educational pathways and broader opportunities for students.
Nigeria does not need to reproduce Indonesia’s system wholesale.
It needs to understand that Islamic identity and modern educational competencies are not mutually exclusive.
8.3 Morocco: Institutional Supervision of Traditional Education
Morocco demonstrates the value of organised state supervision of traditional education.
Its Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs has an established Directorate of Traditional Education with responsibilities covering educational strategy, institutional authorisation, curriculum supervision, evaluation and teacher training.
This approach illustrates how governments can regulate traditional religious education without abolishing its identity.
Nigeria should consider how similar supervisory arrangements can be adapted to its federal structure and the constitutional realities of religious and educational administration.
8.4 The Comparative Lesson
The experiences of these countries reveal an important principle.
The preservation of religious education does not require the preservation of every historical practice associated with it.
A country can protect Qur’anic learning, respect religious teachers, maintain Islamic boarding institutions and still prohibit the exploitation of children.
The real challenge is not choosing between religion and modernity.
It is creating an institutional arrangement in which religious education operates alongside the fundamental requirements of childhood protection, educational development and human dignity.
Nigeria has much to learn from this experience.
9.0 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ALMAJIRANCI: WHO BENEFITS FROM THE STATUS QUO?
The Almajiri crisis is sustained not only by poverty but also by the failure of institutions and the incentives that allow neglect to continue.
There are several layers of responsibility.
First are parents who, whether out of poverty, tradition or personal convenience, send children away without ensuring that adequate arrangements exist for their welfare.
Second are educational operators who accept more pupils than their facilities and resources can responsibly accommodate.
Third are political authorities who repeatedly announce interventions without establishing effective systems of monitoring, accountability and long-term financing.
Fourth are traditional and religious institutions that possess considerable moral influence but have not always translated that influence into sustained institutional reform.
There is also a wider social dimension.
Members of the public have become accustomed to seeing children begging. The daily encounter has lost its capacity to shock us.
We give alms, but rarely ask why the child is on the street.
We contribute to religious causes, but do not always demand accountability for how children are accommodated and fed.
We praise the moral authority of religious institutions, but sometimes hesitate to ask whether the practical conditions within those institutions meet acceptable standards of child welfare.
This is not to suggest that every Mallam exploits children or that every parent is irresponsible. Many religious teachers perform difficult and valuable work under severe financial constraints. Many parents genuinely believe they are making the best educational decision available to them.
But compassion must not become an excuse for institutional irresponsibility.
The fundamental question remains: who is accountable for the welfare of the child?
Until that question receives a clear institutional answer, the system will continue to reproduce the same vulnerabilities.
10.0 THE NORTHERN LEADERSHIP QUESTION: WHERE ARE THE GOVERNORS, EMIRS AND ELDERS?
The Almajiri crisis is particularly troubling because Northern Nigeria possesses extensive networks of traditional authority, religious scholarship, community leadership and wealthy individuals.
The region has produced governors, ministers, business leaders, industrialists, philanthropists and influential religious institutions.
Yet, the continued visibility of thousands of children begging on its streets raises serious questions about the priorities of its leadership.
What prevents Northern governors from developing a coordinated regional Almajiri transformation programme?
Why should a child have to beg for food when state governments allocate substantial public resources to recurrent expenditure and other programmes?
Why have traditional institutions not established stronger, measurable systems of oversight for Tsangaya schools within their domains?
Why should wealthy individuals contribute to the construction of impressive religious structures without giving comparable attention to the welfare of the children studying within the religious education system?
And why should political leaders consider the problem important during campaigns but allow it to recede into the background once political power has been secured?
These questions are not intended to diminish the contributions already made by individuals and institutions.
They are intended to establish that the scale of the challenge requires a corresponding scale of leadership.
The Northern Governors’ Forum should treat Almajiri reform as a priority regional development issue rather than leave each state to pursue disconnected interventions.
The traditional institutions should provide moral leadership and community oversight.
The Islamic scholars should lead a religious clarification campaign that distinguishes authentic Qur’anic education from practices that expose children to neglect and exploitation.
The business community should participate in financing sustainable institutions.
And civil society should monitor implementation rather than limit its activities to periodic advocacy.
The North cannot continue to outsource the future of its children to charity.
11.0 THE CCS POLICY POSITION: FROM SENTIMENT TO STRUCTURAL REFORM
The Centre for Contemporary Studies considers the Almajiri crisis a matter requiring urgent and coordinated institutional intervention.
Reform must be comprehensive, phased and enforceable. It must protect children without criminalising poverty, humiliating religious teachers or unnecessarily destroying traditional educational institutions.
The objective should be to transform the Tsangaya system into a credible, accountable and sustainable educational arrangement.
11.1 Establish a Northern Almajiri and Tsangaya Education Commission
The Northern Governors’ Forum should facilitate the establishment of a regional coordinating mechanism, working with the Federal Ministry of Education, state education ministries, Universal Basic Education institutions, religious authorities and child-protection agencies.
Its first responsibility should be to undertake a comprehensive mapping and registration exercise covering Tsangaya schools, their teachers, pupils, locations, facilities and welfare arrangements.
The exercise must establish a credible baseline.
Without reliable data, reform will remain an exercise in political rhetoric.
11.2 Introduce Mandatory Registration and Licensing
Every Tsangaya institution operating as a regular educational establishment should be registered under a transparent regulatory framework.
Registration should not be designed to obstruct legitimate religious education.
Rather, it should establish minimum standards for child safety, accommodation, sanitation, educational delivery, teacher accountability and access to healthcare.
Mallams should receive appropriate recognition and support, alongside training in basic child protection and educational management.
Institutions that fail to meet minimum standards should receive clear improvement notices and reasonable opportunities to comply.
Where deliberate abuse, trafficking or exploitation occurs, the responsible individuals should face the full consequences of the law.
11.3 Integrate Qur’anic and Foundational Education
A reformed Tsangaya system should preserve Qur’anic instruction while ensuring that children acquire foundational competencies in literacy, numeracy, Hausa, English, mathematics, science and relevant digital skills.
The curriculum should be adapted to the age, learning capacity and circumstances of the pupils.
It should not be assumed that every traditional school must immediately adopt an identical timetable or administrative structure.
Different models may be required for day schools, boarding schools, community-based institutions and children who need transitional support.
What must be universal is the right of every child to acquire the basic competencies necessary for meaningful participation in society.
11.4 End Exploitative Child Begging Through Enforceable Protection Measures
Northern states should strengthen their laws and enforcement mechanisms against forced child begging, trafficking, exploitation and parental abandonment.
However, implementation must be carefully sequenced.
Children should not simply be removed from the streets and transferred into overcrowded or unsuitable government facilities.
Before enforcement begins, governments must establish alternative feeding, accommodation, family tracing, educational placement and rehabilitation arrangements.
The law should target exploitation and neglect, not criminalise children for the circumstances imposed upon them.
Parents and operators who deliberately exploit children should be held accountable, with due process and appropriate safeguards.
11.5 Establish a Sustainable Funding Structure
The financing of Almajiri reform cannot depend exclusively on annual government announcements or sporadic donations.
A Northern Almajiri Education and Welfare Fund should be established through a transparent public-private and community-based financing arrangement.
Potential funding sources should include:
– Dedicated state and local government budgetary allocations.
– Lawfully administered zakat and sadaqah contributions.
– Philanthropic donations and endowments.
– Corporate social responsibility programmes.
– Development partnerships.
– Community-based contributions and approved educational endowments.
The fund should publish audited accounts and measurable performance reports.
Zakat and other religious contributions must be administered in accordance with the applicable religious principles and relevant legal requirements.
The intention should be to replace unstructured dependence on street begging with organised and accountable institutional support.
11.6 Professionalise and Support Mallams
Mallams must be recognised as central partners in the reform process.
It would be unrealistic to demand improved educational and welfare standards from teachers who lack adequate resources.
Government should introduce teacher registration, professional development, appropriate remuneration arrangements and incentives for institutions that meet established standards.
Religious teachers should also receive training in child safeguarding, basic healthcare awareness, educational management and conflict prevention.
A properly supported Mallam can become an important partner in the transformation of Northern education.
11.7 Restore Parental Responsibility
The reform programme must address the role of parents directly.
Sending a child to a religious school should not terminate parental responsibility.
Parents should maintain contact with their children, provide agreed contributions where required and remain accountable for their welfare.
Where families are genuinely unable to provide adequate support because of extreme poverty, the state and community should intervene through social protection programmes.
However, deliberate abandonment, trafficking and exploitation must not be excused as cultural or religious practices.
11.8 Establish Child Identification and Protection Systems
Every registered pupil should be linked to a verifiable identity and an accessible record of parental or guardian contact, educational placement and responsible institution.
Biometric identification may be considered where lawful, proportionate and technically appropriate, with safeguards against misuse of children’s personal information.
State child-protection agencies should establish accessible reporting and response mechanisms.
There should also be a system for tracing children who leave institutions, become separated from families or are reported missing.
The principle must be straightforward: no child should become invisible to the institutions responsible for protecting him.
11.9 Revive and Audit Existing Almajiri Model Schools
Before constructing new facilities, governments should conduct a comprehensive audit of existing Almajiri model schools.
The audit should establish which facilities are functional, which require rehabilitation, which have been abandoned and which can be integrated into existing state education programmes.
The objective should be to maximise the value of previous public investments.
New construction should only follow a demonstrated needs assessment, a viable operational plan and an identified funding source for recurrent expenditure.
11.10 Make Reform a Regional Development and Security Priority
The Northern Governors’ Forum should adopt measurable regional targets for reducing child begging, increasing school enrolment, improving retention and strengthening child protection.
These targets should be incorporated into state development plans and monitored through periodic independent assessments.
The Office of the National Security Adviser and relevant security institutions should recognise child protection and educational inclusion as important elements of preventive human security.
However, Almajiri children must never be treated as security suspects merely because of their educational background.
They are citizens entitled to protection, opportunity and dignity.
11.11 Establish a Five-Year Transformation Framework
The reform programme should operate through a phased five-year framework.
The first year should focus on mapping, registration, institutional audits, baseline assessments and emergency child-protection interventions.
The second and third years should concentrate on curriculum integration, teacher development, rehabilitation of existing schools, feeding arrangements and family-support systems.
The fourth and fifth years should consolidate the reforms through independent evaluation, stronger enforcement, improved educational outcomes and the expansion of successful models.
Annual public reports should disclose progress, expenditure, school performance, child-protection outcomes and outstanding challenges.
The measure of success must not be the number of schools commissioned or the number of political announcements made.
It must be the number of children whose lives have genuinely improved.
12.0 THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT: ALMAJIRI REFORM AS HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT
There is a tendency to approach Almajiri reform as a charitable or welfare intervention.
That interpretation is too narrow.
It is an investment in the productive capacity of Northern Nigeria and, by extension, the Nigerian economy.
Every child who acquires functional literacy, numeracy, technical skills and sound moral education represents an addition to the region’s future human capital.
A child who can read, calculate, use technology, participate in agricultural production, operate machinery or establish a small enterprise has more economic opportunities than one whose education has been restricted by deprivation.
The implications are particularly significant for Northern Nigeria, where agricultural transformation, industrial development, infrastructure expansion and technological adoption require a much larger pool of skilled and educated young people.
The region cannot continue to lament unemployment while allowing a significant proportion of its future workforce to grow up without foundational competencies.
Neither can it realistically address insecurity without confronting the economic and social vulnerabilities that make young people susceptible to criminal exploitation.
There is therefore a compelling economic argument for prioritising Almajiri reform.
Public expenditure on education, nutrition, healthcare and child protection should be understood as preventive investment rather than an avoidable burden on government finances.
The returns may not be immediately visible in the annual budget, but they will be reflected in improved productivity, stronger communities and reduced social vulnerability over time.
13.0 THE MORAL QUESTION: WHAT KIND OF SOCIETY ARE WE BUILDING?
Beyond the statistics, government programmes and policy recommendations lies a more fundamental question.
What kind of society are we building when a child can spend his formative years searching for food on the streets while the adults around him debate whether his circumstances should be described as tradition, poverty or religious commitment?
What does it say about our collective conscience when the sight of a hungry child no longer disturbs us?
How can a region claim to place enormous value on religious knowledge while failing to guarantee the basic welfare of many of the children sent to acquire it?
How can political leaders speak about the future of Northern Nigeria without making the condition of its children a central development priority?
And how long will we continue to confuse the preservation of a tradition with the preservation of every practice that has become associated with it?
Tradition is not beyond examination.
Religious institutions are not beyond improvement.
And cultural practices are not immune to the obligation to protect human dignity.
The responsibility of every generation is to preserve what is valuable in its inheritance while reforming what no longer serves the welfare of society.
The Almajiri institution deserves that kind of honest examination.
The objective is not to erase its history.
It is to restore its dignity.
YUSUF MUSA | CCEO
CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY STUDIES (CCS)
Abuja, Nigeria
(Posting From Karaye – Kano State on the CCS 2nd Round of Nationwide Pre-Election Tour)
November 9, 2026
