Business-man and former Presidential aspirant Adamu Garba said Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, and founder of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, are products of the Almajiri system in the northern part of Nigeria.
While speaking with News correspondents over the weekend, Adamu Garba said he was also at some point an Almajiri.
Practiced in the northern region of Nigeria, the Almajiri system involves parents sending their children to the care of clerics where they are taught the Qu’ran and Islamic tenets.
The system is highly criticized by many most western culture experts because the wards a relater dressed in dirty clothes and sent to the street to beg for alms and other special basis amenities of life.
According to Islamic fundamentalist and ideological radicals, some students of the Almajiri system later joins bandits and terrorist groups like Boko Haram.
The former presidential aspirant in defense of the system alleged that the system was intentionally created, and it’s a noble one that has produced many affluent personalities.
He, however, condemned the contamination by some clerics who send the lads out to commit crimes.
When he was inquired if the Almajiri system promotes terrorism, Garba said, “So, it is very unlikely that you have an Almajiri man becoming a Boko Haram.”
Garba further reveals that the Almajiri system’s situation is due to the Northern governors’ failure, whom he claimed neglected the young Almajiri’s.
“Young ones who are also citizens of the country are supposed to have good healthcare; they are supposed to have a good education, they are supposed to have good attention or support from the government where necessary. The parents are very poor, and they believe that one of the things that will liberate their children is carrying them to another place to go and study.
“As a state governor, you should see this as an opportunity that that boy that will be left in the bush in a certain village that has no opportunity is in the city and now that he is very close to me in the city where there are basic amenities for him to enjoy, why not find a way to mainstream him into the educational system and then give him proper healthcare support so that he can grow and become a more useful citizen of the society?
“Meanwhile, the same Almajiranci setting was a very strong grooming ground for so many big people from the north including most of the most notable families from the north, all of them came from Almajiri because Almajiranci itself has nothing to do with the raw study of Islam; it has everything to do with studying businesses, marketing, relationship, and lifestyle.
“If you look at Dangote, our richest man today, his family are Almajirai. In fact, currently, the Dantata family is one of those supporting the largest Almajiri group in Nigeria. The group has up to 10,000 Almajiris, and the Dantata family still supports them.
“Isiaka Rabiu, his father was a notable Almajiri. His family was a traditional Almajiri. In fact, his father was a Sheikh of Almajiranci. Until he died, he supported Almajiranci, and up till now, they (the family) are still supporting Almajiranci. So, they (the Almajiri settings) have been able to build children that have become global icons. It means there is value in the Almajiranci.”
“Again, if you go to the Kano market, most of the rich people in the market are Almajiri, they came through Almajiri, they were able to get the necessary training in the Almajiri institutions, and they were able to get to where they are.
“But today’s Almajirancis have been contaminated because the Malams take advantage of these children: they send them to commit crimes, sometimes, they go into drug abuse and become big criminals in the society. Why? Because there is no care for them,” the ex-presidential aspirant told reporters.
Garba advised that the 19 state governors in the north should allocate 10 percent of their budget to cater for the welfare of the Almajiri’s students.
