KADUNA: 168 Almajiri rescued from 13 states, ECOWAS countries, intercepted by officials

THE Kaduna State Government has said the Task Force enforcing Covid-19 related regulations in the state have rescued over 160 almajiri in locations violating the regulations put in place by government.

The government said this against the background that it had ordered the closure of all schools since December 2020.

Speaking on the development, government noted that kids of other nationalities, particularly Republics of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger were among those rescued.

This revelation was contained in a statement titled, “KSG rescues 160 Almajirai,” by the Special Adviser on Media and Communication to the State Governor, Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, in Kaduna on Friday.

Adekeye said the children were mostly toddlers rescued from different locations that were neither authorised and licensed as schools nor as children homes in the state.

He said keeping the children in unauthorised places was also in contravention of the state Land Use regulations and inconsistent with the policy of repatriating almajirai to their states and local governments.

The governor’s aide said in the latest exercise conducted by the task force, of the 160 children rescued, the state (Kaduna) topped the list with 68 children, followed by Kebbi State with 16 while Kano and Katsina had 15 each.

According to the breakdown from the government, others are Nasarawa 12, Zamfara 8, FCT Abuja 2, Sokoto1, Niger 5, Kwara 4, Kogi 2, Oyo 2 while foreign countries such as Republics of Niger, Burkina Faso andBenin had 5, 3, 1 respectively
Speaking on the government’s next step, Adekeye said the children were profiled after which they would be repatriated to their states of origin while children from ECOWAS countries would be handed over to officials of Nigerian Immigration Service.

He also disclosed that so far “as part of the implementation of this policy, Kaduna State has received 1,118 children to the state who were relocated from other states.”

The statement read in part, “Officials of the Kaduna State Government Task Force enforcing COVID-19 related regulations have rescued 160 children from locations that are neither authorised and licensed as schools nor as children’s homes.

“Some of the rescued children are toddlers who are not yet able to properly identify themselves.

“The rescued children are from 13 states in the North and South of Nigeria. Some of the kids are from Benin Republic, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic.”