FILE PHOTO
The idea of northern governors sending the alimajiri of each state to their home states may break the bond that binds the northerners together. Are these people not from all over the northern states? Are they not the sons and daughters of the men and women of northern extractions?
There are so many implications of this act which is not good for our society and especially to the northern states. Moving these set of people from one place or the other to other states in such a clustered manner, not obeying the physical distance rule may escalate the spread of the virus, especially now that some of them have been reported to test positive to the virus.
Two, as these set of people are the vulnerable among us that need our help, it is not good to further compound their vulnerability by sending them back to their state of origin. They should be left alone in the places where they have found themselves and be taken care of there. Again, what if a state government sends away for example 300 members from his state to another and from that same state 500 are sent back as the number of the people from the state 300 were sent?
If the purpose of sending them to their respective places of origin is to lessen the financial burden on the state, then the question to ask is whether any state government is spending anything on these alimajiris. The answer is no. The thing that the 19 northern state governments should do is to think of ways to give certain training in education and commercial activities that will engage these children and adults that are engaged in the almajiri way of life.
Also, this repatriation is going to lay a bad precedence. For example, if the states in the Southern regions may also decide to take similar actions to send the almajiri in their areas back to the northern states where they belong, knowing that states in these regions have few or no beggars in the northern states. Finally, let the northern governors rescind their decision and take a look at a better option to treat the issue of the almajiri because they are human beings like us and part of us; and given the same opportunity that the children of the elites have, may even fare better than their counterparts that have the opportunity of western education.
The present circumstance will go and things will be better again for us in Nigeria. Let this issue of Covid-19 not divide the north and cause disaffection among them. Please, think about the plight of these set of people in our midst. They also deserve palliative because in some places they are not able to go out for their business through which they get their daily bread.
Ajadi Solomon,
ajadisolomonadeoye@gmail.com
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