Kakaki

Promoting Inclusive Education among Almajiris, the Kwara FOMWAN Example

By Usman Aliyu

Koro Afoju is a popularly colony strictly for the blind in Ilorin. Situated in the heart of the Kwara State capital between Gambari and Ojagboro areas, its residents always referred to as “Almajiris” reportedly migrated to the area from different parts of Northern Nigeria to engage in street begging to meet up their daily needs.

Ibrahim Yakub is one of the blind Almajiris in the colony. He hailed from Kano State, but he said he had lived in Koru Afoju for almost 20 years.

“I came through my uncle who is not physically challenged as I am. He lives at Sango, another Hausa community. Though I was living with him before, I later relocated to this community where I can relate with people like me. We thank God that we have been living here for decades without any regret”, Yakub said.

Yakub’s situation is relatively similar to other members of the settlement. So for that, they, over the years, cohabit and share common history, heritage and particularly, a common goal of begging by going outside the community on daily basis to seek alms.

As time passed by, they began to intra-marry, and consequently, the population started to multiply. This led to an upsurge in the population of the community.

More often, these street beggars are assisted by their children, who hold their hands or sticks to guide them to various places in the city and even outside. However, the peculiarity of Ilorin Almajiri system is that while their counterparts in other parts of the North sleep on the streets, they have a colony they all retire to after their daily activities.

The Kwara State Government recently carried out interlocked pavement of the sloppy road leading to the colony from Gambari to Oja-Igboro and Awodi area. It made access to the colony easier.

Sadly, many of these Almajiri children lack access to education. Many grow up to join their parents in the alms-seeking activities, some turn to scavengers while others resort to illegal businesses and activities for a living.

Studies by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have shown that one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria.

The studies explained that though primary education is officially free and compulsory in the country, about 10.5 million of the Nigerian children aged 5-14 years are not in school. These studies were conducted seven years ago. The numbers must have gone up as no remedial actions have taken place since then.

The findings added that only 61 percent of 6-11 year-olds regularly attends primary school while only 35.6 percent of children aged 36-59 months received early childhood education.

Koro Afoju was in the same situation until 2020 when the Kwara State branch of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) intervened. The federation shortly before the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic enrolled 200 of these children for elementary education to improve their chances at a better future.

These vulnerable children were enlisted at Karuma LGEA Primary School Ilorin, an educational centre 500 metres to their residence. They were provided with uniforms, textbooks and exercise books among other learning materials at a ceremony witnessed by some officials of the state government, members of the community as well as representatives from neighbouring communities.

Speaking on the rationale for the intervention, Hajia Halima Yusuf, Chairperson, Almajiri Education Committee for the Muslim women organisation, said the children observably constituted nuisance to the neighbourhood.

Yusuf, who is a former Commissioner for Education in the State and resides in the neighbourhood, described as worrisome the increase in number of Almajiri children in the streets without access to education.

She condemned how they were used for begging, mostly in areas like Gambari, Ojagboro, Oja-Oba and Post Office, among others, describing the idea as a violation of the right of children to education, health, security, food and dignity.

“They will be the one guiding their parents; holding their arms to various places in the town and outside the town. The children were so small; they are growing up to teenagers.

“We deemed it necessary to help them because the adverse condition being experienced by these children could deprive them of a bright future and their rights as citizens of the country”, the educationist said.

Besides, she noted that the intervention was in line with the principles of the Muslim women’s association of ensuring inclusive education for all children irrespective of origins, tribes and religions.

The former Education Commissioner stated that the move particularly became necessary due to the high rate of out of school children in the country and its resultant effects on the security of lives and property.

Sharing a similar sentiment, Hajia Maimuna Sheu, the Amira (President) of the Ilorin branch of FOMWAN said that the association was only able to adopt 200 children because of the financial burden involved. She said the committee had informed relevant government agencies and that the state government had expressed interest in taking over the sponsorship.

Sheu explained that basic education was free in Kwara State, nonetheless, students were being made to pay Parents/Teachers Association (PTA) levy. This, she said must be abolished if the progress made so far was to be sustained. The registration of these children, she said has reduced the number of the children in the streets.

While reacting, the traditional head of the community, known as Sarkin Makafi, Alhaji Muhammadu Thani lauded the intervention as he said they would not want the children to end up like them.

“We are always helpless to send them to schools because no assistance was forthcoming either from government or anywhere.

“Besides, we don’t have any health facility in this community in case our children fall sick. This is an aspect we would like the government to look into. Our houses, apart from the fact that they cannot contain all of us again, are fast dilapidating.

“If the government says we should stop begging today, we are ready to quit the business, but something has to be provided in return because begging is our only source of livelihood.

“It has been like that from time immemorial. We have been begging to feed ourselves. It is not our desire to continue to beg but we don’t have other means of feeding ourselves and our family.

“That is why we will forever be grateful for this intervention by the Federation of Muslim women’s associations in the country”, Thani said.

Hitherto, he said some of the children enrolled in several vocations and apprenticeship as automobile mechanics, tailors and shoe cobblers among others.

Mr Salihu Mohammed, a parent of one of the enlisted children, said the intervention would definitely redefine the future for the children.

Mohammed stated that the opportunity is a privilege and urged other Non-Governmental Organisations, government and well-meaning individual to emulate the step taken by the FOMWAN.

“I appreciate FOMWAN for this good job that they are doing for Almajiri people. We really appreciate the association and we will never take the gesture for granted”, he said.

The Headmistress of the school, where the children were enrolled, Mrs Halimat Lawal sees the intervention as timely. She said the children exhibited the zeal to learn.

Lawal assured that enlisted pupils would excel in their academic work, but urged other philanthropists to complement government’s effort in its policy of education for all.

In the remark of the State Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs Susan Oyetunde, who is a Deputy Director commended the organisation for investing in the educational pursuit of the children. She described the effort as a great contribution to the education sector in the State, and urged well meaning individuals and organisations to imitate FOMWAN.

The senior government official sought more public-private partnership in the development of education in the State and Nigeria as a whole.

Hajia Nimat Labaiak, the deputy Amira of FOMWAN in the State and the State’s immediate former Coordinator for the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), identified payment of PTA levy as one of the challenges against the free basic education policy in the State. Unless the levy was abolished, she notes, many children from poor background may find it difficult to acquire western education.

According to her, FOMWAN wants to make the enrolment an annual event, but lean resources was a challenge. While the cardinal programme of FOMWAN had been to encourage and support children to have western education as well as to support the implementation of programmes that will gradually take the children off the streets, she urged other non-governmental organisation, corporate bodies and well-meaning individuals to assist in the programme.

“Education will save them from adverse health outcomes and empower them to participate in decisions that affect their lives”, she said, expressing optimism that the State government would take necessary steps on this in line with its policy of education for all.

FOMWAN’s action is a wake up come on other stakeholders in the education sector on ensuring inclusive education among the vulnerable Almajiri children. However, government still needs to fashion out a sustainable approach to this issue so as to ensure that the rights of vulnerable children to basic education as guaranteed in the Kwara State Child Rights Law (2008) and the Universal Basic Education Act (2004) are no longer violated.

By Usman Aliyu

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Feb. 3 approved establishment of 20 additional universities in Nigeria with a view to expand access to university education among the increasing admission seeking applicants in the country.

By accounts, this is the first time in the history of the country that the FEC would give approval to 20 private universities at a go. 

The approval has, therefore, taken to 190 the number of universities in Nigeria with the private sector leading the Federal and state universities combined number of 91 with 99 universities. The figure of private universities apparently accounts for 52 per cent ownership in the country.

While briefing newsmen in Abuja on the outcome of the meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister for Education, Adamu Adamu said that the approved universities would get their provisional licences from the National Universities Commission (NUC), which they would use for the next three years while monitoring and evaluation of the operations go on.

The geo-political spread of these new institutions shows that nine of the universities are located in the North-Central, three in the South-South, two in the South-East, five in the North-West and one in the South-West.

Meanwhile, no sooner that the news of the approval was made, divergent reactions began to trail the decision of the apex executive council in the country, particularly from the stakeholders in the university education subsector.

While some applauded the decision for the new universities would help in creating choices for candidates of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and increase the capacity of universities to absorb yearly seekers of higher education, others see the proliferation as a ploy to shift attention from the challenges facing the university system in the country especially the public one

In his argument for the approval, Prof. Gregory Ibe, the Chairman, Proprietors of Private Universities in Nigeria, described the establishment of the new institutions as a giant stride and commended President Buhari and the executive council for the development.

This singular action of the FEC, Ibe said would address the incessant patronage of mushroom universities outside the country by the teeming Nigerian youths who are in dare pursuit for university education.

“What this singular action entails is that instead of mushroom universities springing up outside Nigeria and patronised by our teeming youths without the NUC’s guidelines, it is better we have these universities licensed to operate.

“No doubt, the spread of private universities is looking good. I sincerely believe that the Federal Government in the future will do more and help private institutions receive grants,” he said.

Also justifying the approval, Mr Daniel Akpan, Executive Director, African Centre for Educational Development (CLEDA Africa) said the proliferation of private universities in the country would reduce stiff competition for admission into public universities.

Akpan argued that the step was a good development considering the huge population of youths seeking university education, which he said the establishment of more private universities is reducing.

“With fewer universities, if you do not know someone, who knows someone that knows someone, it is almost impossible to secure admission even when you pass the requisite examinations.

“But with more and more private universities springing up, the rich have the option of getting admission for their children in private universities.

“This is helping to free up some space for the children of the poor who can only afford public universities for their children,’’ he said.

With the establishment of 20 new private universities, he said access to university education in the country would significantly increase. 

“For example, JAMB had revealed that more than 1.2 million candidates sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in 2019, of which only 612,557 were admitted.

“In 2020, the number of applicants skyrocketed to 1.9 million and given the available space, more than a million will not be admitted”, he referenced, saying the newly established private universities would absorb more than 80,000 applicants if each of them admits at least 4,000 candidates.

Besides, he noted that the development would equally provide job opportunities for unemployed graduates in the country, who could be engage as academic and non-academic staff and others for security and cleaners among others.

The executive director further observed that the new universities would also increase the production of manpower and human resources needed to efficiently exploit the untapped nation’s abundant natural resources.

“Even the host communities will witness socio-economic transformation and urbanisation,” he said.

Speaking in the same direction, Mr Ike Onyechere, Founder, Exam Ethics Marshall International, explained that the available carrying capacity in higher institutions was not enough to absorb qualified applicants, hence the need for more universities.

Onyechere argued that there was a need to provide more private university alternatives in view of incessant strike actions in public universities.

“Irrespective of reasons and justifications for strikes, the reality is that strikes have made public universities the last resort of those who have no other options.

“Establishing more private universities will also drive down their cost, based on the law of supply and demand. As it stands now, only rich people can afford private university education,” he said.

He, however, advocated integrity of the accreditation process so that only institutions with minimum infrastructural, academic and human resource standards were approved.

This, he said was because some of the private universities that have been granted approval in the recent past are nothing more than glorified community secondary schools.

The educationist added that without the appropriate standards, the new universities would just be degree mills and the goals would be defeated.

On his own, Mr Nathaniel Adamu, Acting Policy Advisor, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), said the approval of the additional 20 private universities would create a positive impact.

Adamu said many candidates who applied for courses of their choice but were not offer admission due to fewer vacancies would likely have the opportunities for admission.

He asserted that the approval of the universities would close a gap for admission demand in the country, while also stressing that standard must not be compromised.

Nonetheless, Adamu called on the NUC to monitor closely the activities of these universities to ensure education standards were never compromised.

Notwithstanding these justifications, some other stakeholders in the sector have raised concerns over the proliferation with warnings that such increase would rather cast a setback on the education, if the prevailing challenges inhibiting efficient and effective university system is not properly checked and addressed.

This set of stakeholders believes that nothing was enough to justify the approval, when the existing universities were neither adequately funded nor properly monitored to ensure compliance, with appropriate guidelines.

In his argument against, Prof. Monday Omoregie, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Benin chapter, said that he had begun to see approval of more universities as political patronage, despite warnings, to the relevant authorities, on the inherent danger.

Omoregie said that expanding the existing universities would perform the functions the new ones were established to do.

According to him, education remains the vibrant instrument for development, hence the need for the government to do the needful in ensuring that the schools are run the way they are supposed to.

“Education is a social service, but these private universities are established by investors, who believe in profit making.

“The guideline is that private universities must be run for 15 years before any plan of making profit, but which university can do that”, he asked, saying that within a year of establishment, many proprietors would begin to crave gain.

Sharing a similar sentiment, Prof. Monday Igbafen, Chairman of ASUU, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, said that establishment of more universities, without proper recourse to the challenges facing the existing ones, was what the union had been trying to criticise.

“How do you justify the existence of additional universities, when there is this cry that even the private universities that are running now lack proper monitoring, to see if they comply with the NUC guidelines and what is required to run a university.

“They are all just centres of where they collect people’s money. That is why most of us are getting worried about the education system in the country”, he said.

Igbafen claimed that the excuse that those universities were established to expand access to university education in the country is not tenable as one university in this country if properly funded might take a half of the population of prospective university students.

“Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria can cater for almost half the population of students we admit in this country, but there is nothing on ground to sustain an ideal university.

“When you carry out objective assessment of these universities, you discover that they are not really universities; they are just there to divert our attention where the rich ones can send their children, whereas they will not be properly trained in terms of developing minds.

“It is all about just dishing out degrees; not necessarily interested in the content and quality of the product. It is just about giving out first class and what is important is to get money. I think it is necessary for government to reflect on some of all these decisions that they have taken.

“If we have to advance the course of our educational development in this country, it is not through proliferation of both private and public universities”, he said.

Also reacting, Benjamin Egwu, the President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) at the University of Benin said that the proliferation of private universities would soon cripple the standard and patronage of public universities.

“The attention of students is being diverted to the private universities, because the situation of our public universities is worrisome. The incessant industrial action by the ASUU is one factor, while lack of proper funding is another.

“There is no need for the approval of more universities for now. These private universities are to shift attention from public school, because there is no much care about facilities in the public universities.

“The public universities are dying and if the situation is not properly checked, it will lead to what is currently happening to public primary and secondary schools in the country.

“If you compare public and private primary and secondary schools, the difference is clear.  It is affecting the system negatively and that is now moving to the higher institutions.

“It is getting to a situation where commoners would also not want to train their children in the public universities because of the environment”, he said.

Egwu bemoaned the obsolete state of facilities in the public university, saying “when you walk into any public university, whether state or federal, what you will see in its library are books of 1980s, 1990s.“There are no update-to-date books in the libraries as we speak. Just ask the librarian when last they updated their shelves.

“The auditorium we are using at the University of Benin was built in 1981; about 40 years ago, without maintenance”, Egwu said. 

Obviously, the arguments of the two sides are genuine, considering the different perspectives to issues in the university education in Nigeria. 

Nevertheless, the latter argument observably outweighed the former as nothing could reasonably justify establishment of more universities in the country where these existing ones are struggling to compete with their contemporaries across the globe.

Hardly has Nigeria University in a recent time been rated high among its counterparts in Africa not to talk of in the global world. This enough calls for serious concern and action among the relevant stakeholders. 

With the perceived lapses, one can unmistakably aver that university system in Nigeria is currently bereft of requisite wherewithal to effectively and efficiently deliver on its mandates, and as such, its proliferation can never be said to be the best alternative at this critical time. Rather, efforts and resources should be deployed to better equip and expand the existing ivory towers in the country for efficiency and global competitiveness. 

The Federal Government through its relevant ministries and agencies, therefore, needs to holistically address in earnest the prevailing mess in the system and by extension the education sector at large.

In the end, this will, inarguably, guarantee the university system with the environment conducive for research, steady academic calendar and turning out of quality and employable graduates. Upon the achievement of these, Nigeria can, then, be deemed fit for more universities than it is, at the present.

The International Women Communication Centre (IWCC) Nigeria on Wednesday in Ajase-Ipo, Irepodun local government area of Kwara donated a building complex for training of women in Kwara South on vocations to guarantee their economic emancipation and self-reliance.

At the official inauguration of the building named IWCC Women Vocational Training Centre, the Executive Director of the IWCC Nigeria, Dr Limota Goroso-Giwa, said that the idea was conceived out of her humanitarian services, and the desire to improve on the economic means of the women folks.

“Currently, we operate a branch in Ilorin, which was opened in 2010 to serve the people of the Kwara Central zone.

“Today, we are opening the Ajase Ipo branch to serve women in different parts of the Kwara South Senatorial District.

“Very soon, we are going to open branches in Lafiagi and Malete to serve the good people of the Kwara North.

“It is also our desire at the IWCC to open more of these vocational centres in different parts of the country, if God Almighty permits, to better impact on the lives of the less-privileged.

“It has been our desire to always serve humanity and always wish to contribute towards the promotion of the rights and growth of women in terms of economic empowerment and sustainable livelihood”, she said.

The centre according to the donor, will offere services such as tailoring and fashion designing, bag making and design, bead making and decorations, tie and dye, kampala making and designing, cake baking and catering services and computer training among others.

 She added that the centre would also offer classes on adult literacy, women’s human rights training, women’s health and reproductive health study and guidance and counselling for women and girls.

The training, which would last for four to six months, Dr Goroso-Giwa said would be free for women and girls.

She, however, explained that the centre would sustain itself in the long run from charges for other public uses such as weekend weddings, meetings and conferences.

She concluded that the centre would admit students from Offa, Oyun, Ekiti, Isin, Oke Ero, and Ifelodun local government area of the state.

In his speech, the Olupo of Ajase-Ipo, Oba Sikiru Atanda applauded the donor for her untiring efforts to promote woman development in the state and country at large.

Atanda urged the trainees to be up and doing and avoid absenteeism and exhibit seriousness throughout the duration of the training.

The traditional ruler said that showing seriousness to the opportunity was the only way to encourage the centre to train more students from the senatorial district.

He specifically commended the leadership of the IWCC for deeming it fit to create a branch of the centre in his kingdom.

This, he said would enhance the economic status of the area as soon as the students start putting the knowledge acquired into use.

At the event, the Permanent Secretary, state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Afusat Nike Ibrahim, emphasized the importance of women in the society, saying that they have been responsible for the upkeep of matrimonial homes.

She added that the administration of the present administration in the state has set the pace in giving female folk sense of belonging in the scheme of things. The permanent secretary commended IWCC for its positive impact and contribution to the development of women in the society.