Opinion

By Malam Hassan Mohammed

You see, I have a lot of issues with Mallam Dahiru Bauchi when it comes to the sighting of the moon for the commencement and ending of Ramadan. The man has been, in the past, a deliberate source of unnecessary controversy and in the process dividing the Muslim Ummah. But we have to be fair to him this time. He did not ask anyone to break his fast, eat today and also observe Eid-el-Fitr. He did not contradict the Sultan or anyone in the position of authority to make the pronouncement of the termination of Ramadan whether locally or internationally.

In fact, listening to the conversation (the audio is almost everywhere) you’ll hear that even after serious pressure from some unscrupulous dudes who were discussing with him, the man was careful to refer to the Sultan. He was clear. He initially said that though it can be accepted that the moon may have been sighted in Doma (Nasarawa) and Abuja if as they claimed there are witnesses. But he could not tell people not to end Ramadan or that they could not if they chose to. Or call them people who knowingly violate injunctions.

However, he (1) specifically asked them if the Sultan is aware or had announced, which took the dubious guys aback because they didn’t expect that push back from him. And (2) when he got tired of their pressure he pushed back by saying just wait till next tomorrow, regardless of the claims that the moon has been sighted in Doma, Abuja and Niger Republic. If you can’t listen to the all 3:42 minutes, you may fast-forward to minute 1:33 where and when he asked if the Sultan has been informed and instructed that he must be informed so he will announce. And also 3:38 where he said he will not lead Eid, so they should wait.

The man simply ceded the right to announce the ending of the fasting to the constituted authority by saying, “If you are in Nigeria, you have no justification for breaking your fast unless you have not heard (the instruction of the Sultan). For that, we will not observe Eid. We are going to wait till next tomorrow. They should wait”.

These guys that were with the revered Sheikh and many others are used to the usual rebellion that they thought the Sheikh will simply agree and announce that the fasting should end and Eid to be observed today. To be fair to him, especially this time around, he didn’t. This is because one of our major problems with respect to moon sighting is that there are people who consider not accepting to commence the Ramadan fasting or ending it with the rest of Ummah/everyone, this is an act of rebellion. It is to them, a continuation of the denominational war. So, irrespective of the religious injunction and obligations, and also irrespective of their own beliefs as at the time of moon sighting, they must reject whatever the authorities say.

That this year’s Ramadan, the commencement and ending of the fasting, is not controversial as it usually is, is a serious letdown for them. If you pay serious mind to the nearly 4 minutes discussion, you’ll hear that Sheikh Bauchi was probing as he was also careful not to reject the idea that those who said they have sighted the moon completely have done so, but to also tell them that while he is not saying they lied, he emphasized that he desperately tried to avoid that, but he will not end his own Ramadan. That’s the wisdom of elders and of the learned, not the exuberance of young people who rebel in unnecessary and unhelpful controversy.

This shows that Sheikh is always at loggerheads with authorities over when to commence the Ramadan fasting because of his philosophical conviction and not because of ideological differences. So, if you end your Ramadan fasting just chest it. Don’t lie against the old man. Don’t use him. Just say that you just feel like it. It’s just about you and you, and nothing else. Try using another excuse for why you endured 29 days of fasting but cannot take just one more day. It is you, and you. Not Sheikh Dahiru!

Hassan Mohammed is a social analyst. He writes from Kaduna, Nigeria.

By Ali Tijjani Hassan

Lately, in the previous weeks, Adamu Garba, from Adamawa state, declared his interest in vying for the office of the President of Nigeria under the platform of the ruling party, the APC, in 2023. Adamu, a young entrepreneurial pedagogy with fervent learning ability, nestled the slogan of the Youth-4-Youth movement. He’s a source of motivation, inspiration, and encouragement to the young generation.

After watching his declaration of interest speech and reading his visionary parable, “This is my Nigerian vision for the Presidency”, I learnt that; bundles of courage and braveness are kept in this young man. He meant business-like to his ambition. If elected, Adamu vows to tackle national threats like corruption, unemployment and insecurity.

The young Adamu, in his 40s, held no public office before his declaration. He’s likely to be a corruption-free citizen, and he could make a good President if elected and be the ‘Mr. Integrity’ we were craving earlier. As he said, “we failed many experiments with individuals that know nothing but public service”. Adamu’s mind is not obsessed and dominated by lively greed.

Adamu dreams of lifting the country close to heaven by transforming it into 21st century Nigeria. So, we can compete globally in diplomacy, development and economic productivity.

The audacity of fundraising:

President Muhammadu Buhari bamboozled Nigerians to send their accumulative income to his ‘fes benk’ account when contesting in 2015. Numerous Nigerians see it as fraudulent and daylight robbery that the aspirants use to avoid bankruptcy. If they do, so they lose to make it in the primaries. Buhari used this beguiling technique twice during his democratic terms, becoming a modus-operandi among shining politicians. It’s one of Nigeria’s political cultures that many Nigerians hate.

If this fraud has to be put into practice amidst this life plight and economic hardship, no politician fits the kind of supportive gestures from his followers than two political idols; Sen. Shehu Sani of Kaduna state and Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano state. But to all my pleasure, these humble men surreptitiously take their form of interest without coward ploy.

Adamu Garba ll has adapted this weapon and paved his way to national legendary. The matter arose and transmuted to night thunder not only to Adamu Garba ll but also to many deceitful cartoon-sketch candidates. But alas, he received the shocking response of his life, as most of the responders took his notion as a joke and responded with a kind of joke we’ve never witnessed.

The saddened part is that some people are busy promoting this delusional love to the spendthrift governor like one of Yobe state. In a saner clime, people to used their hard-earned money to sponsor any candidate is not a good idea. Still, with the kind of deception we witnessed from the previous candidate that went through the same system, the culture has to be stopped and allow people to deal with the incompetency of these politicians.

Ali Tijjani Hassan wrote from Potiskum, Yobe state via alitijjanihhassan@gmail.com.

By Umm Khalid

I completely understand this parental concern. We live in an age, unfortunately, where entertainment is tantamount to plopping yourself and your kids in front of the screen.

Screens = Fun

But this model was not always the case. In previous generations, entertainment came in many forms and none of them involved a screen.

Even today, much research has been done and much ink has been spilt to detail the deep harms that come with screentime for children, especially at a young age.

I did not grow up watching TV, even though this was the norm in Egypt when I was growing up. Almost everyone had a TV, and most families gathered around their screen to watch أفلام ومسلسلات (movies and soap operas/ TV shows and dramas). This was standard practice in Egypt even with our relatives and neighbours.

But my father, may Allah reward him immensely, had a different mindset. He saw this as a big waste of time, precious time that could be used elsewhere either to be productive or to have fun but in a non-screen way. He also worried about the impact it have on his daughters (my sisters and I) to see women dressed without hijab (even though the way women dressed on TV in Egypt in the 1980s and 90s was nothing compared to how women dress now!). But he knew that whatever the eye consumes has a big impact on the heart and mind. My father called the TV مُفْسِديُون (a play on the word for TV in Egyptian Arabic, تلفزيون), roughly like “Mufsid-vision,” meaning that which brings fasad, or destruction.

So he put our TV in the closet, unplugged and unused.

I think this is one of his most brilliant parenting strategies mashaAllah!

So after becoming a parent myself, I’ve followed suit. My husband and I do not allow our children to watch TV or be on a screen of any kind.

Especially these days, even so-called children’s shows and cartoons are riddled with subliminal messaging and deep social engineering on issues like LGBTQ+-×÷ and tabarruj and promote disrespect and defiance to parents, and deviance in general. TV shows on Netflix or HBO or whatever other platforms are basically avenues for smuggling in all the most damaging, fitra-warping, nature-altering liberal ideas into the heart and mind of the viewer. It’s nothing short of mass brainwashing.

What is also quite sad and even dangerous is that after enough acclimation to screens, it becomes an actual addiction. There are studies that show that children as young as one and two years old get addicted to screens, and if parents attempt to take away these devices, children show classic signs of withdrawal! This is what happens with drugs, for example. When a drug user stops using, he or she experiences painful withdrawal symptoms. TV for children can become similar. Turning off the TV after the show has ended can often result in crying, screaming, and temper tantrums.

The other bad thing about a screen is that it trains children to be passive recipients instead of active doers. On the screen, characters parade themselves before the children’s eyes, there are bright lights and loud sounds and flashing images. So easy to sit back and be passively amused. Next to this lively entertainment, how can reading a book compete? Now reading a book looks dull and boring in comparison. Writing your own story is now too much work. It is in this way the screens tend to stunt creativity and initiative in children.

And for us as Muslims, an over-reliance on screens can be an obstacle to Quran. How can memorizing Quran compete with the easy passive fun of watching TV? Memorizing Quran will seem that much harder and more arduous, that much less fun, next to the TV. Without the blaring distraction that is the screen, Quran is much more doable and even enjoyable inshaAllah.

Sometimes either my husband or I will show the kids a specific video on a certain topic (animals, nature, or what subject they might be learning about like tornadoes or earthquakes, etc), but it’s always with us, supervised and educational.

And it’s a one-off, not a regularly scheduled event.

Our kids have no expectations for having a certain amount of TV time or screen time a day or a week or a month. This can be achieved by training the kids and by being consistent with the rules so the kids do not feel confused.

So then: what do the kids do for entertainment?

🌻 We go outside very often and let the kids run and play, go swimming. One of my kids is a big climber and loves to climb trees. Invariably, the boys find some good sticks and tree branches and use them as swords, and have mock battles (غزوات).

🌻 The kids love to read books and sometimes try to “write” their own books complete with illustrations. Before they are literate, they just look at the pictures. We also read aloud to them sometimes.

🌻 We go on play dates to various parks with friends.

🌻 Sports (for my kids: soccer!)

🌻 At least once daily, I play with the kids (chasing and tickling games, lol). [I have an old post from a few years ago detailing the specific games I often play with them!]

🌻 But most of all, the kids invent games with one another. Alhamdulillah, that’s one of the benefits of having multiple children: they make up games together! They wrestle, race, and make up other ways to compete. This strengthens their creativity, initiative, and imagination.

When you have a big imagination, the possibilities for entertainment are vast!

But what we don’t do is rely on TV or screens for entertainment. Our entertainment is deliberately low-tech and old school.

I’ll end with this, as food for thought: many of the people who live in Silicon Valley and work at Google or other tech companies do not allow their own children to have any screens. They keep all their kids’ toys and entertainment low-tech. Interesting, no?

By Abdullahi D. Hassan

Nigeria is a nation with Hydra lineament. For a long time, its narratives became a phenomenon in scholarship and startle those that are not abreast of Nigeria’s convoluted history, ethnic chauvinism, election rigging, religious intolerance, cankerworm corruption and heartless politicians with megalomaniac habits, driving pleasure in shady governance to submerge their citizens into gross poverty.

The sarcastic ‘Giant of Africa’ falls into a harrowing moment. Nearly all of the architecture of Nigeria is profoundly rotten, and its stench is sprinkled with endemic corruption, lack of patriotism, decay in moral values, transparent nepotism, and killing is crossbones across the regions. From the fanatic massacres, notably by Boko Haram and bandits.

After three decades of military tyrants and juntas, 1999 turned new dawn for Nigeria. The nation shifted from military dictatorship to civilian government. Policymakers, political pundits, and intelligentsia ascertain Nigeria’s prospect is on the trajectory of advancement. Albeit, the ultra development in multifaceted sectors. Within a decade of pseudo-civilian government, the country’s destiny is trapped in quicksand. Due to ingrained corruption by the three arms of government: executive, legislature and judiciary.

Nonetheless, the dominant ethnic groups, Hausa from the North, a Muslim enclave and fraction of Christian, Igbo from the South, a rife of Christian and Yoruba from the West, shared hybridity of Islam and Christianity. Those ethnic cleavages race for Tour de France in tribal wars, hegemonic politics, religious politics and domineering politics according to the dictum of language, faith and region. Amid the wanton rascality done by the “Zombie”, like Fela, the Afrobeat legend branded soldiers.

Thus, the failure of the so-called democratic government unbridled the ‘darkest History of Nigeria’. A typical Hausa accuses Igbo of the putsch and eliminating Northern leaders, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Prime Minister and Sir Ahmadu Bello, a remarkable figure to Northerners. In 1966 a bloody coup was orchestrated by Igbo officers. Igbo talk of persecution and pogrom against their race in the North. Among the factors that emanate the unfortunate Nigerian-Biafran war spanned between July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970.

Furthermore, from the 1999 political dispensation to the current predicament, the country challenges twig onto gloom-ridden forms; politicians turned into confidence tricksters, parliament became the ‘House of Deception’, religious institutions metamorphosed into a commercial enterprise, journalists supplanted into puppets controlled by the connected few and higher learning academic reposition to woman’s assault domain. The former American ambassador, John Campbell, from 2004 to 2007, described politicians in his book Nigeria Dancing On The Brink “the civilian political class behaved as badly and in much the same way as its military predecessor”.

The most populous black nation on earth is about to be a Banana Republic. In the Northern part of the country, hardly a day passes, from sunrise to sunset, without disheartening news breaking in mainstream media. Boko Haram, ISWAP insurgents or bandits kidnap and maim innocent people. The terrorist marauders hold certain villages in the North-West. Similarly, hundreds of public schools are shut down for fear of abduction.

The most recurring questions preoccupying my faculty: Who will lead Nigeria to the Promised Land? When will Nigeria be exempt from being a nepotistic state to an excellent land, with leaders handling the nation based on the principles of democracy? What are the required features to alter the awful chronicles of Nigeria? Why are we divided in a discourse of religious sentiment, ethnic oblique and regional dominance rather than championing the furtherance of Nigeria?

Surreally, Nigeria is the most religious nation on earth! But in reality, it is the most irreligious in the world. The proliferation of mosques and churches crisscross the length and breadth of Nigeria. The anointed citizens were sponsored to Mecca and Jerusalem for pilgrimage from the government treasury. Despite public schools turning into rubble, pupils sat on ruined floors. Pregnant women wallowed in a dearth of medical personnel and drugs to survive early death in rural areas. Another outstanding hypocrisy of the Abrahamic faith’s leadership in Nigeria, the schools were built with the alms of followers. Such schools are barricades for the common man to enrol his children. Their subtle aim was to propagate adulterate gospel and split the masses based on emblems of Christianity and Islam.

As Chinua Achebe says in one of his pieces of literature, The Trouble with Nigeria, “There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leader to the rise to the responsibility, to challenge of personal example which is the hallmark of true leadership”. The book was written 38 years ago. The quote portrayed the decay of systematic dwindling in leadership style patterns. Although there was relative peace in the country at the time, we could travel thousands of miles from Lagos to Borno with confidence. In the absence of the highwaymen and any other obstruction.

Nevertheless, the dethroned Emir of Kano, erstwhile Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Khalifah Mahammed Sanusi II. He mentioned in his impressive Tedx speech entitled Overcoming The Fear of Vested Interest, “the world’s largest producers of crude oil that do not refine its own petroleum products”. In addition, the reverend Economist, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former minister of Finance and Director General of World Trade Organization. As stated in her book Fighting Corruption is Dangerous. She recounts how billions of dollars were siphoned in a fraud called oil subsidy intervention. Mrs Iweala’s doggedness toward deceitful oil cartels and markets led to the kidnapping of her aged mother. Those two paradigm exegeses gave a sinister view of modern-day Nigeria from the spectrum of the clandestine elite.

The absurdities mentioned above triggered the Igbo to quest for a breakaway from Nigeria and rekindle the Republic of Biafra under the tutelage of Nnamdi Kanu, the ringleader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). The Yoruba seek Oduduwa nation, as some Northerners dream of an Islamic state to govern their affairs based on Shari’a. Those juxtapositions defined the nationhood of Nigeria as a conduit of dissolution.

By Yusuf Muhammad Tukur Illo

It has obviously become the norm among those who call themselves ‘intellectuals’ or arrogate to themselves ‘advanced civilization’ especially from the North, to at the slightest opportunity, revile not only the poor Almajiri children but also their parents and anyone/anything they deem directly or indirectly connected with their own notion of Almajiranci practice.

You will often read them carelessly throwing descriptions such as ‘irresponsible parents who bring to the world children that they cannot take care of’, showing absolutely zero regard to the plight of most of those children and their parents – being victims of systemic injustice who otherwise should deserve better treatment from their governments.

Moreover, the so-called intellectuals have constituted themselves into an anti-Almajirai vanguard, advocating for banning of the practice in its entirety and vehemently opposing any call or move to reform the system. Literally, giving the children no chance to benefit from any initiative to improve their lives, especially from the governments that have neglected and reduced them to destitution.

HOWEVER, the attitude shown by these ‘civilised intellectuals’ is an entirely different ball game when other than Almajiranci is the case. I will give a few examples attesting to that double standard.

1. They passionately call out any State Government (from those Northern States where Almajiranci is prevalent) that has failed to pay the examination fees (WASSCE and NECO) of its graduating secondary school students, criticising and blackmailing the government until it settles the money running into hundreds of millions. The flimsy reasons they advance is that there are children of the poor who cannot afford the examination fees. But to them there are no children of poor among the Almajirai that deserve government support in whatever form.

After enjoying virtually free education with feeding (mostly for those in boarding schools) courtesy of the State Governments, the parents failing to pay only the exam fees of their children are not irresponsible and not deserving of condemnation, simply because they sent their children to a school other than an Almajiri school. Consequently, our ‘intellectuals’ will pressure the governments to shoulder that responsibility on their behalf.

2. They equally criticize any State Government that discontinues payment of University Registration fees for its indigenes (as is the case in some Northern States) or cuts down scholarship stipends of its students in the highly subsidized public universities. Why won’t they deserve free or highly subsidized education from Primary School to the University since it is Western Education, as it is popularly called?
And their parents are not irresponsible for giving birth to children whose education in public institutions they cannot even pay for, but rely on the Government to do it for them.

But the Almajiranci practice should not benefit from any government scheme that will aim to reform it, because their parents are irresponsible for giving birth to them and failing to look after them.

3. They always support the struggle of ASUU (which I have been a member of, for over a decade) in demanding more Government funding to revitalize our universities, making all kinds of commentaries on how our governments care less about the educational sector due to low budgetary provisions for the sector. That is because university education is sacred to them.

But they will oppose groups that advocate for schemes to intervene and reform Almajiri practice, because those who engage in it are lesser humans and therefore deserve no such interventions. That’s even though the Almajiri school settings are no where near the universities in terms of needs.

4. They endlessly praise any State Governor that sponsors his indigenes to study abroad. And any successor who dares to end the sponsorship due to lack of funds or redistribute the students across universities in less expensive countries or even transfer them to private universities in Nigeria, will come under fierce criticisms of the ‘intellectuals’.

But the Almajiri practice should receive total ban rather than government initiatives that will reform it and make it better for the citizens who have chosen it.

With all sense of modesty, I have been a beneficiary of government funded foreign scholarships for both MSc and PhD, and I know the humongous amounts of money the government spends on foreign scholars yearly, which has yielded only very low Return on Investment for the country so far.

Should a meagre fraction of those amounts be allocated and used to reform Almajiranci practice, the impact will be immediately noticed and the poor children will have a chance to live a decent life facilitated by their governments. But our ‘intellectuals’ are opposed to that, because Almajiranci practice is a useless venture from which comes no good, as they have repeatedly claimed.

5. After all the aforementioned interventions, the students of Western Education graduate from the universities and complete their NYSC, then majority sit at home idle, only adding to the country’s unemployment statistics. Our ‘intellectuals’ will seize the opportunity to criticise the governments once more for failing to create jobs or provide employment opportunities for the youths.

Interestingly, the graduates are not irresponsible for failing to secure a job or even knowing where to start from, despite benefitting from free or highly subsidised education. Likewise, their parents are not irresponsible for giving birth to them and failing to guide them to obtaining jobs or entrepreneurship, even though the government has shouldered most of their educational responsibilities.

However, our ‘intellectuals’ expect the neglected Almajirai and their disadvantaged parents who have most likely never benefited anything from the government, to be self educated and enlightened and even create those enabling environments and opportunities for themselves to thrive and become ‘responsible’.

6. Whenever they discuss about the Almajiri practice, they try to bring out only the woes of it, without a single possible benefit which they have already concluded does not exist.

However, whenever anyone discusses the ills of their unimpeachable Western Education, they go berserk, pouring invectives on the person regardless of their social status – accusing them of trying to drive Northerners away from acquiring modern education to be able to compete nationally instead of encouraging them, and eventually blackmailing them into silence.

But the fact they keep denying is that there are as much troubles and abuses in our Western educational systems as there are in the Almajiri practice.
I do not need anyone to tell me this, because I am a stakeholder with nearly 2 decades of cumulative teaching and lecturing experience across Nursery and Primary Schools, Polytechnic and University.

Even for non-stakeholders, the incessant cases reported in the media of abuses in formal school settings from defilement of Nursery/Primary schools pupils by teachers, sexual harassment of junior students by their seniors, induction of high school and tertiary students into prostitution syndicates as well as sex for grade incidents, are more than enough pointers to the degree of rot and risks in the system. But we can continue living in denial and looking the other way.

The Sexual Harassment Act made by the National Assemlby to arrest sex for grade cases in our universities is what has hit the final nail on the coffin in that regard. So, whoever wants to keep denying let them do.

Therefore, for those whose major argument for advocating ban on Almajiranci practice is the risk of abuse the children are exposed to, they would really have to try harder to prove how free our formal education sector is, from those risks.

A very silly argument some of the ‘intellectuals’ often put forward is: “since Almajiranci practice in its current form is good, why don’t you send your child to an Almajiri school?”

Well, the chances of me sending my child to Almajiranci is as non-existent as the chances of me sending them to any formal boarding school. The probability is zero. Because the risks are as high in both, and only effective reforms could endear either of them to me. That is why we call for the reform of the Almajiri practice with integrated skills training and basic literacy and numeracy, to engage the poor kids and offer them chance to live a decent life, at least. At AMORGIC Foundation, we are making plans to give such contributions to some Almajirai, as a pilot scheme. While the ‘intellectuals’ can continue attacking whoever dares to expose the vices that have become rampant in our formal educational sector as they are in the Almajiranci practice.

Another irrationality yet displayed by groups of those intellectuals is: “the Almajiranci practice has outlived its usefulness”, “what do the Almajirai even achieve after graduation?”, bla, bla, bla… That is the shallow and pseudo kind of their ‘intellectualism’. They can see sense in music, drama, film making and what not, but none in graduating from an Almajiri School after committing most or all of The Holy Qur’an to memory?

They should perhaps try to first explain what the millions of our unemployed graduates have achieved after graduation, with some spending as much as 5-10 years searching for jobs. That is when we can easily think of factors responsible for that, right? Likewise, there are factors responsible for the sorry state the Almajirai have found themselves in. So, for every bastardised Almajiri School that you want to use as a model, there are equally bastardised formal institutions that produce millions of graduates adjudged unemployable – many that cannot even write a formal job application letter.

And in case our so-called intellectuals have no idea, a reformed Almajiranci practice brings with it numerous benefits. Apart from producing responsible and law abiding citizens and boosting the skilled labour market, the graduates of those schools can even be ‘exported’ to other countries where their expertise are needed. Yes, exported!

If the Almajirai can have decent learning environments with proper, formalised certifications for their completed studies, there are opportunities for them to be hired internationally and get handsomely paid. A quick destination for them could be the complex for printing and publication of The Holy Qur’an in Saudi Arabia, to be proofreading millions of copies of printed Qur’an among other tasks.

In fact, the graduate Almajirai can be hired even in the United Kingdom where you least expect, as full time Imams.
From experience, an Imam leading just Taraweeh prayers in Ramadaan (who are in high demand) could earn up to £1,000 only, an equivalent of about N750,000.
As full time Imams, they could be entitled to a house from the mosque and a monthly wage of up to £700 – £800 (N525,000 – N600,000). While some mosques have a rate of pay for the Imams per prayer he has led.
Plus, the Imams can run Qur’anic classes for adults or kids or both, with an average charge of £6 – £10 (N4,500 – N7,500) per person per week. Details about this may be discussed another day.

In conclusion, it is apparent that most of those bashing the Almajirai and calling for the abolishment of Almajiranci practice in its entirety, are not really after the betterment of those poor children’s lives. They are only furious because the children roam the streets of our big cities, hence they are insisting that every child be returned to their villages so that our streets are rid of Almajirai completely. They do not care what becomes of them at the villages where there is no government presence whatsoever, in most cases. They will be just fine and comfortable as long as they don’t see Almajirai on their way.

But those ‘deported’ children may be there gradually metamorphosing into monsters that will come to hunt us much later, probably worse than the neglected forest Fulanis who are now terrorising us whenever we pass through their territories. We should have learnt serious lessons by now, honestly.

That is why at AMORGIC Foundation, we try to approach the issue critically rather than emotionally. The children should not be summarily condemned to their villages where their respective governments have failed to provide them any form of basic education. From initial engagements with some of these Almajirai, they do not have even a single block of classroom in their villages. What exactly do we want them to do if they are deported?

We hope to in no distant future, conduct a comprehensive study involving the Almajirai and their Malams, into a multitude of factors that have contributed to the current state of Almajiranci, including the failure of governments in discharging their responsibilities of providing free, accessible basic education for all citizens. Because we believe that for any drastic reformative measures to be successful, governments must fulfil their own part of the bargain. They must take responsibility!

Then if we want justice and fairness for the Almajirai, let us pressure all Northern States Governments with Almajiranci issues to halt the payment of WASSCE, NECO, University Registration fees and/or scholarships for just 3 years and use the money to reform Almajiranci practice. Let us see the results we are going to have.

Until that is that chance is given to them, I don’t think we have the right to scorn them at will.

By Sumayya I. Ja’eh

Chorus/children: ‘Ka yi rawa kai mallam ka yi rawa.’

You’ve danced, oh! Mallam, you’ve danced

Mallam: ‘Ban yi ba’,

I didn’t

Chorus: ‘tsoho mai gemun banza.’

Old man with a useless beard

The call-and-response dialogue, accompanied by the beating of a drum, propped open my six-year-old eyes in my grandfather’s compound in a village in Katsina. It was one of those fuzzy moments when you wake up and don’t know where you are for a minute. I had slept off in the car, only to find myself in a dim room lit by a kerosene lamp. There was no electricity, and the young moon illuminated the compound. The young boys that woke me were beating a locally made drum from tins, nylon, and sticks. They looked like characters from the famous tale by moonlight series produced and aired by the national television station NTA, which I was obsessed with then. The main character, Mallam, had a costume: a babban riga, an old cap placed haphazardly, a white beard, attained by putting white cotton on a boy’s face, and his mimicry of an old Mallam thrilled me. It made me and their audience laugh. That was my first conscious experience of Tashe and one of the reasons I look forward to spending my fasting period with my grandparents in Katsina or Kaduna.

Tashe is an old-age traditional mimetic performance performed by children between 6 to 14. It is an annual cultural performance that takes place in the 9^th month of the Islamic calendar and is performed in the early hours of the morning or the evening before the pre-dawn meal or after the break of the fast. Tashe is a short play that challenges a social issue, accompanied by songs, dance, and mimicry.

Tashe can be traced as far back as the contact of the Hausawa with Islam. The word is derived from ‘tashi’, a Hausa word for wake up. Muslims are expected during the month of Ramadan (9^th) of the Islamic calendar to fast, and they are highly recommended to take the pre-dawn meal. So, some people feel the need to wake others up for Sahur, to replenish their empty stomachs and energy to see them through the rigours of the day’s work without much difficulty. So, a few community members took it upon themselves to wake people, to prepare and eat just before dawn. To lighten the frustration of struggling to keep awake with no alarms, these volunteers enact the games named wasannin Tashe. While the adults prepare the meals, children with nothing to do occupy themselves with games to help while away time. Another factor is the essence of Tashe, which is aimed at luring people away from un-Islamic leisure pastimes since the beginning of Ramadan.

Tashe is performed mainly by young children, who imitate adults. It is often satirical and full of humour but laden with moral lessons and socio-religious ethics of the Hausa community. Tashe is usually passed down orally from generation to generation. The characters fill the roles with costumes, makeup, and dialogues in call-and-response songs. It is social criticism and a mirror/lens to view the socio-religious ways of life in most Hausa communities.

The Almajirai also are volunteers that perform Tashe. The Almajiri’s source for their food, move from house to house, seeking food or alms. During Ramadan, the Almajiri sing a dirge in the late night hours, songs calling out to anyone with an extra plate to give them. Some musicians and drummers, along with young children, also began to imitate the activities engaged in by the adults. In time, these plays shifted to the early hours of the night. They sing, dance, dialogue, improvise and wear costumes. It is a comedy, but like all comedy, it is the presentation of serious matters in unserious ways.

One striking characteristic of Tashe is its didacticism; it doesn’t only entertain but emphasizes the Hausa cultural belief and tradition—Tashe projects social ethics. Therefore, many performances aim to ridicule those who deviate from correct social norms merrily.

One well-known Tashe passed down from generation to generation is that of naci na kasa tashi, meaning, ‘I’m so full, I can’t stand.” One of the young boys dressed as an older man puts cotton on his chin that looks like a beard and puts on some clothes to show his protruding stomach. When they are ready, they go from house to house. The lead character sings, and the other children chorus/reply.

Baba: na ci na kasa tashi!

Children: Baba zare gareka!

Baba: Tuwon da dadi yake!

Children: Baba zare gare ka!

Baba: kuma har da nama!

The above can be roughly translated as ‘I’m so full, I can’t stand’, and the children reply with ‘Baba, you’re greedy,’ while the Baba tries to justify his gluttony by saying the tuwo is sweet and there is meat.

For instance, Ga Mariama Ga Daudu, another Tashe, gives us a socio-historic glimpse of the Hausa laden with humour. It is a mimetic performance of the communal responsibilities/expectation of husband and wife, the type of staple food eaten by Hausas. Although a comic, the play is social criticism of the institute of marriage, which several people from both genders are desecrating. Girls stage the play. One of the girls puts on a costume, a long kaftan and a beard and tries to deepen her voice to sound like a man. It is a telltale that enlightens young women about what society expects from a married woman.

Due to the Hausa tradition that does not allow the two genders to mix freely, the girls and boys don’t mix to perform Tashe. Instead, each gender play switches roles with its unique performance type.

A very well-known Tashe is of Gwauro. It is a mime that consists of 5/6 boys. One of them is dressed in nothing but bante (a short nicker) Hausa traditional pants, a rope tied to his waist, a bundle of clothes with kitchen utensils like used tins, old, discarded radio, an old dirty kettle can be found in the bundle carried by the main character. The others hold on to the rope while the lead character tries to run and is being pulled by the rope, while they sing ‘gwauro gwauro, gwauro nuna mana yadda kake tsanawa’? Gwauro can be translated to as Divorcee or an old bachelor. ‘Show us how you cook?’ He goes on to put a tin can, wedged it between two stones, and mimics blowing air into the woods.

This is aimed at ridiculing the bachelor, and lessons deducted from this drama border on the irresponsible nature of the bachelor for trying to play the role of a woman, who in most Hausa communities is the one who cooks. Tying the rope around the waist of the lead actor is symbolic. The rope restraining the bachelor also portrays the image of someone in bondage. This shows that in Hausa society, marriage is given such importance that the bachelor/divorcee is considered a lesser being than the other community members.

One Tashe that has gone viral and is available on YouTube is the 2021 Ramadan Tashe ridiculing the state governor of Kano, who asked for 15 billion naira to tackle the issue of Covid 19, as well as a scandal video of him collecting kickback. The short clip shows a boy lying on the floor with a babban riga (an overflowing gown), a red cap, and a white beard. His friends, the crew call out, ‘Ganduje tashi,’ ‘Ganduje stand up,’ to which he replies, ‘sai an ba ni dollar Corona’ ‘not until I am giving dollars to fight Corona.’ The clip is a short comedy skit that not only cracks people up but also has an undertone that challenges corruption by government officials.

Though Tashe is basically performed to provide merriment, the reverse may occur. Sometimes, Tashe meant to ridicule certain personalities, which may not be acceptable to the person concerned. Here the object of ridicule will not find the performance funny, and it is pretty common to see the performers running helter-skelter, being chased by the target of the performance. At other times, the performance itself may be acceptable, but the attitude of the performers may be irritating to the target audience. To cap it up, these performers would taunt any house owner who refused to donate anything. Upon exiting, the actor would often sing, “mun taka tutu, maigidan nan ya yi shi.” “We have stepped on a heap of shit; the owner of this house must have excreted it”.  

Tashe emphasizes communal performance. My grandparents or parents always give out some loose change to the performers. This is the norm that the adults expected to give alms to the performers. These donations can be money or food items, primarily grains like millet and sorghum, the staple foods in any Hausa community. There is no fixed amount for alms, but donation largely depends on the social and financial status of the audience, as well as the extent of enjoyment of a performance.

The audience, primarily adults, also participates by correcting any misrepresentation in the texts, disguise, or dramatization. With globalization and urbanization happening worldwide, Tashe, as I used to know it, is fast becoming a relic of the past. The face of Tashe has evolved in urban cities. Few children or Almajirai go from house to house, entertaining people while seeking alms.

This long-old tradition of performance entertains and highlights the life of the Hausa folks and brings the fore societal expectation of a man/woman in Hausa society. Although it is a series of plays that comes only once a year as entertainment, it is full of dramatic content that reflects contemporary events. This mimetic performance encompasses most characteristics of a drama; costume, dialogue, improvisation, storyline, and purpose. These earliest Tashe performances are the precursor of modern Hausa drama.

Tashe tries to divert the community’s attention from the economic and political predicament. Tashe, like Macukule, which explores the Hausa stereotype of the Gwari man, is still dominant in contemporary Hausa movies. A renowned character Dan Gwari is not new to anyone familiar with Hausa movies.

Today, if you google Tashe on YouTube, a few children and young adults pop up on your white screen. The TV channel, Arewa24, created a short series of Tashe that they stream. While this is another means of preserving this long tradition, the thrill and euphoria experienced by the audience are reduced by the limited screen. Unfortunately, my children would most likely never experience this long communal tradition of Tashe as I did.

Sumayya I. Ja’eh wrote from Abuja via sumyjaeh@gmail.com.

By Engr. Mustapha Habu Ringim

The innovative Almajiri School Initiative of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ), directly or indirectly, challenged northern Nigerian elites on the intense need for a proper plan and execution of any sustainable way of curtailing the menace of the Almajiri system of education. He did his best during his tenure. We expect the incumbent government and the next one to build on where that administration stopped to ensure continuity.

I don’t know how Northern Nigeria is becoming so loose that our communities find it difficult to maintain essential infrastructures like those installed during the GEJ government. Instead of optimising the system, we allowed the structures and the equipment to rot away. We abandoned the schools. Today no one cares to adopt the strategy even in our localities, neither our philanthropists nor any NGO.

Most of our elites are only good at criticism. You will never see them when it comes to action. They instead spend their energy on empty talks and promises. While in a situation like the one Arewa is subjected to, action is mostly needed, with less noise. Though we all agree that “facta non verba”, actions speak louder than words, we always end up talking the wrong walk instead of walking the right talks.

Alhamdu Lillah, we started a model of such a system within our jurisdiction, called ENGAUSAR ALMAJIRAI, under Engausa Global Tech. Hub, which has recently attracted an intervention from NITDA Nigeria and a solo philanthropist from JOS Plateau State, Alh. Yusuf Yahaya Kwande. I don’t want to say much about the outcomes at the moment until we achieve enough to discuss. I always prepare walking the talk instead of the opposite.

We had witnessed a similar effort to revamp the TSANGAYA SYSTEM in Kano State during Malam Ibrahim Shekarau’s tenure. Shekarau transformed the Tasanga (Almajiri School) system and provided Almajirai and their teachers (Malaman Tsangaya) with sustainable means of livelihood. But unfortunately, the innovative Tsangaya System, sphere-headed by Dr Bashir Galadanci, a man with a sincerity of purpose, was abolished by the successor of Shekarau. And all the achievements recorded from the innovative system were brought back to square one.

Moreover, this is how the monotonous lack of continuity in governance, lack of patriotism, and focus are consuming every program or policy designed to transform our socioeconomic and sociocultural activities. In the same way, Kano ICT Park and Jigawa Galaxy Back Borne and Informatics suffered from the unpatriotic people at the helm of the affairs of Nothern Nigeria. Both Jigawa and Kano would have been ahead of Lagos regarding the digital ecosystem and digital economy. As of 2005, Jigawa was rated as the best ICT State in Nigeria due to the achievements recorded from those iconic “digital wings”.

Our society needs a new set of purposeful leaders, the likes of Borno State Governor Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum. We require leaders who are ready to sacrifice their lives for any struggle necessary to save our society from obscurity to prominence. With such Zulum’s prominent achievements, the progress recorded under Shekarau in Kano, and that of Goodluck at the federal level, we now have a concrete reason to disagree with anyone who thinks Nigerians will never be taken to the proverbial promised land.

Engr. Mustapha Habu Ringim wrote from Kano via ringims@gmail.com.

By Shafi’i Sheikh Jr.

Reading through posts, articles, and comments, I think I now know why our debates on almajiri/bara will never end in Northern Nigeria. And as long as it remains a debate, it will continue to ravage every fabric of our society. 

Despite being the very foundation of today’s society, a debate is no longer a discourse among people with contrasting arguments using facts, logic, and evidence to exchange views and/or ideas. 

I have realised that once a debate revolves around  Almajiri and begging, people of certain sects see it as an opportunity to bash another sect. In defence, the others also find a way to come back. In doing so, the purpose of debate suffers the consequences, and debating parties end up being more determined and confused than they were before it began.

Until debating parties start arming themselves with facts, figures, logic, and most importantly, open minds to accept or exchange ideas, the problem will always win. Parties will always return confused, and the solution to the menace of “Bara” will never be found. 

At this juncture, I will like to point out that there is a fine distinction between Almajiri, which has its roots in the Arabic word “Al-Muhajirun” and loosely translates to “Migrators”, and “Bara”, which means begging for alms from people (often done as a means of sustenance). And until our people can differentiate between the two, ours will be a confused and misguided society. 

Perhaps, further clarification will disabuse the minds of debaters on the wrong usage of the two concepts. 

The former is a term that was first used in Islamic history to refer to those who migrated with the Prophet (S.A.W) from Makkah to Medina (Ogunkan and David Victor, 2011). The term was later ‘Hausanized’ to Almajirai, which today refers to seekers of knowledge who migrate from their comfort zones to concentrate only on acquiring Islamic knowledge. 

Now, some greedy Mallams (Islamic teachers) laid a fertile ground for this misconception to thrive by taking away small children who can not shoulder the bulk of their responsibilities to major towns and cities to acquire Islamic knowledge. And because neither the mallams nor the children can shoulder their responsibilities, especially in cities where life itself is expensive, the children engage in begging and other menial jobs, the proceeds of which the mallams extort from them hence, ditching the primary reason they left home. 

This gave birth to “Bara” (begging), which many non-Muslims and even some Muslims alike erroneously ascribe to Islam. To people with such minds, they believe Islam is associated with begging and encourages its practice by declaring almsgiving (Zakat) to be so weighty that it is a pillar of the religion. Also, it is believed that the five pillars of Islam are dependent on each other. Therefore, neglecting the pillar of Zakat (almsgiving) will render the others fall and ruin a person’s faith. 

This they justify by quoting, among other things, chapter 76, verse 9 of the Holy Qur’an, which says:

“And who give food – however great be their own want of it – unto the needy; and the orphan, and the captive (saying in their hearts) “We feed you for the sake of God alone: we desire no recompense from you, nor thanks.”

Yes, Islam encourages the giving of alms. There is no doubt about that. However, it also frowns on taking begging (Bara) to be a means of livelihood. Qabisah ibn Mukhariq reported: I was under debt, so I came to the Messenger of Allah, peace, and blessings be upon him, and I asked him about it. The Prophet said, 

“Wait until we receive charity, then we will order it to be given to you.” Then the Prophet said, “O Qabisah, begging is not lawful except for one of three cases: a man who is in heavy debt, so asking others is permissible for him until he pays it, after which he must stop; a man whose property is destroyed by a calamity, so asking is permissible for him until he can support himself; and a man who is afflicted by poverty attested to by three astute members of his people, so asking is permissible for him until he can support himself. O Qabisah, besides these three, begging is forbidden, and the beggar consumes what is forbidden.” (Sahih Muslim 1044)

Hakim Ibn Hizam, a poor companion of the Prophet, also went to beg the Prophet three times. The Prophet on each occasion granted his request, but on a subsequent occasion, the Prophet discouraged him from begging, telling him that “the upper hand is better than the lower hand”. The Prophet admonished his followers, saying:

“I swear by Allah that it is better for one of you to take his rope and gather firewood on his back than to come to a man and beg him whether he gives or refuses to give.”

To sum it all up, one may be right to opine that “Almajiranci” in its truest form is a system of Islamic education that should be practised and encouraged while “Bara is not only unIslamic but also a menace that should be eradicated.

The above suggests that no relationship exists between Islam and begging. Therefore, the menace can only be attributed to socio-cultural and socio-economic realities in the region and, to a larger extent, the country. Consequently, it is now left to Islamic scholars, religious leaders, and stakeholders to embark on an enlightenment campaign to raise awareness and educate the general populace on the difference between the two practices. 

May Allah guide us, amin.

Shafi’i Sheikh Jr. writes from Jos and can reach via talk2sheikh.esq@gmail.com.

By Zayyad I. Muhammad

Godwin Emefiele, 60-year-old Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, is one of the presidential hopefuls whose ‘aspiration’ has become a surprise to some people, and admiration to some other people.

Some people were surprised when Emefiele’s name popped up among the presidential hopefuls. This class of people thought that as an experienced economist heading Nigeria’s apex bank, Emefiele should concentrate on his job of formulating monetary policies, controlling inflation, and managing other economic fluctuations, while championing innovation to ensure the nation’s economic and financial stability.

On the other hand, the people who see Emefiele as a strong candidate believe that with the remarkable successes of the programs and schemes initiated or being implemented by Emefiele; if as president of Nigeria he will not only expand them but will also apply his wealth of experience as a development finance expert to stimulate the economy via other economic programs that will reflect on local needs in line with global trends. This group of people always cite schemes like the anchor borrower program- which has successfully created economic linkages between smallholder farmers and reputable companies involved in the production and processing of key agricultural commodities and the COVID-19 intervention that has cushioned the adverse effects of COVID-19 on households and MSMEs.

In the last five years, the CBN under Emefiele has disbursed over N114.09 billion to support the fertilizer industry- Nigeria had seven Fertilizer blending plants in 2016, and only four were operational. As of today, there were 62 functioning blending plants. These and many economic policies and progress are the ladders these people stand on to cheer Emefiele on, as a strong aspirant. There are reports that many farmers in the north, especially rice farmers have termed their successes as ‘Emefiele’.

Furthermore, political pundits are of the view that Emefiele’s candidature can be a very important political balancer for the APC ahead of the 2023 presidency game. Firstly, no camp in the Southwest will feel cheated with the Emefiele candidature since he directly doesn’t belong to any of them; but can be incorporated into any camp seamlessly.

Secondly, Emefiele from Ika South, Agbor region of Delta State, SouthSouth Nigeria, can also be linked to the cousins of the Igbos in the Southeast. This will to some extent calm the nerves of the advocates of the Igbo presidency and achieve geopolitical equity. For example. Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency was a stabilizing force in the southeast’s politics and social order.  Some political pundits believe that Emefiele, as president can also play that role, now that the Southeast is in agitation for the presidential seat. 

The time has come for Emefiele to officially declare whether he will contest or not. This is very important to clear the air- politics or CBN Governor.  If Emefiele will not contest- let him continue with his task as the driver of Nigeria’s monetary policies and other important roles of the CBN. However, if he decides to contest – this will be a big one in the field of the 2023 presidency game in the APC- already groups like the Emefiele Support Group and Arewa Alliance for the Presidency of Godwin Emefiele (AAPGE) have reached out to many quarters in the country campaigning for Emefiele.

So, what remains for Emefiele is political alliances, negotiation, and courting- this will be easy for him because of his privileged position. However, he also needs to understand that politics is not Development Finance. It is a game where a primary school dropout can teach or even ‘scold’ a Central Bank Governor!

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja via zaymohd@yahoo.com.

By Aliyu Nuhu

The British Queen does not need to steal public funds. She was born rich and will never need to work or hold public office for her to live a comfortable life. This includes generations of her family, including the unborn.

The Queen had inherited private income that includes money from private estates, such as Sandringham and Balmoral Castle, and her personal investment portfolio. She even pays personal income tax to the British government running into millions of Pounds.

She also has 18,000 hectares of property, land and other assets in England and Wales. The income from the assets is called the Privy Purse and is used for the upkeep of the Queen’s private and official expenditure. In 2013, the profit from the Duchy was 19 million pounds.

Way back in 1760, King George III cut a deal with parliament to hand over the Crown Estate — a large portfolio of land and property now worth $15 billion, which includes most of the U.K.’s seabed, Regent Street in London and Buckingham Palace – to the Treasury. As part of this deal, the Monarch is entitled to a share of the profits of the Crown Estate. The Queen now receives the Sovereign Grant from the Treasury, which consists of 15% of the profits from the Crown Estate. In 2019, the Queen received $61 million, which goes to paying for royal travels, investitures, garden parties and the upkeep of official residences like Buckingham Palace.

Technically speaking the British Government does not spend a penny from taxpayers money on the Queen.

Moreover, the British Prime minister earns a salary of roughly 151,451 pounds annually, an equivalent of about 71m naira per annum. The PM takes care of himselt from the salaries including food except during state banquet where such bills are paid by the government.

On the other hand, the Nigerian president goes home with roughly 8m as salary. But President Buhari has “”magnanimously” slashed his salary by over 50% which brings down his take home to about 3m roughly. But that is not the end of the story.

The Nigerian president does not feed himself. Billions of Naira are budgeted for his food, drinks, clothes, electronics, furniture, cooking utensils and fuels. It is safe to say the salaries of a Nigerian leader is vague and unspecified. Only God knows how much is spent to maintain the president.

Similarly, the Nigerian traditional rulers on the other hand gave zero wealth to the states. The monies they squandered on luxurious lifestyles belong to LGs and State governments which by effect makes them lazy and economic parasites.

There is no need in going into the salaries of legislature at federal and state levels. We all know our bureaucracy is the costliest in the world with overhead that will never allow Nigeria grow. Unless we reduce the evil cost of governance and use the money for critical infrastructure, this nation will continue to run in circles.