Northern Nigeria has a high rate of destitute, street children ranging between 5 and 15 years. These children are known as “Almajiris” the origin of the word Almajiri can be traced to the Arabic word “Al-Muhajirum” which when translated means a traveller in search of Islamic knowledge.

As estimated by the National Council for the Welfare of Destitutes (NCWD), Nigeria has over 15 million destitute, and more than half of this population are children from northern Nigeria. Almajiri’s are estimated to be about 7 million. This calls for a state of emergency to be declared on the system and culture of Almajiri because these children are definitely going to be our future nightmares.

These children are brought in from distant towns and in most cases neighbouring countries such as Niger and Chad to study and usually, their parents bring them with a few clothes, a pair of rubber shoes and a bowl.

On arrival, the children are shared into groups https://qwenu.com/2018/12/12/almajiri-reflections-of-a-woman-in-bayero/