Nigeria: The Pending Almajiri Burn Fire

"Powerful politicians in Northern Nigeria are pushing for the scrapping of controversial Koranic schools after some pupils found themselves at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. No- one knows how many of the children known in the local Hausa language as almajirai, which is derived from the Arabic word al-Muhajirun, or emigrant were sent home but Kaduna state alone said it had repatriated thirty-thousand (30,000). What no-one knew was that hundreds of the children already had coronavirus, so officials had inadvertently contributed to spreading the virus rather than containing it. They saw the pandemic as an opportunity to scrap the almajirai-based Koranic schools that have long been part of the Islamic education system in the mainly Muslim North"- Nduka Orjinmo. The North in its relentless desire for power grab and keep power by all means unwittingly cut its nose to spite its face. The Northern leaders never really asked themselves the purpose and reason for which they pursue power desperately. At least if not for public good then it should be for selfish reasons. All outcomes through the years they have held power points to the theory of selfish interest. Ok, so we isolate self interest as the only reason Northern leaders desperately seek and grab power. Going deeper to fundamental forensic expose into the selfish interest of the Northern leaders reveal a deeper layer of the meaning of selfish interest i.e, my family and I alone. These people have trained their minds to think of themselves and immediate families only hence they have mastered the art of turning a blind eye to the basic needs of the lowly Northerners especially their millions of children. These Northern leaders have long used grabbed power to allocate choice federal government positions and military power to their Northern kind. By so doing they have amassed wealth to the tones at the detriment of the oil producing communities whose land has been ruined by ruthless people that want the eggs not caring what became of the goose. Apart from using federal might to pilfer Southern oil revenue they also systematically frustrated the employment of educated Southern youths. Rather than employing educated South with vital skills for good resource management , they prefer near illiterate Northerners in every sphere of the federal government offices. Dejected and frustrated Southerners learnt the power education and pursued education at all levels competitively and meritoriously. Entry qualifications for University was not reduced to two O-levels grade at best but generally just bear ethnic Northern and religious name and you are admitted into Universities where they graduate half baked graduates that is unleashed on the Nigerian psyche. They produce nothing and contribute nothing, whereas Southerners have since learnt to fend for themselves through mass migration to civilised economies and diligent self employment. It is not yet uhuru in Southern Nigeria, but there is significant growth economically compared to the pampered North that has nothing to show. Indeed Southern Nigeria diaspora remit about $29.9billion dollars to the Southern economy yearly which greatly galvanise the local economy. In my two decades living in Europe, I have hardly encountered a Northern Hausa/Fulani man living and working here. No, they cannot come here because they are generally unemployable where there is regard for merit and qualifications and no ethno-religious entitlement. So where am I going with the above expose. The selfish misuse of power and religion by the Northern elites. With their donkey years held on power and control of resources, they have dangerously refused to educate or skill their sons and daughters. Rather the girls are married off at the age of twelve to idle unemployed men to litter the harem with innocent children whose future is quickly reduced while the boys are thrown to the streets from age eight to fend for themselves exposed to the vagaries of unsupervised childhood. The irony is that these Northern leaders do not believe in this child marriage and the almajirin culture in as much as it concerns their own sons and daughters who they send to the most expensive schools locally and overseas to attain quality degrees and skills. At the end they deliberately and purposely match mate them with similar children from well heeled backgrounds. The young innocent boys roam the streets eternally with hunger, anger and hatefulness against the society that has failed them. Their Northern leaders couldn't be bothered about their plight as they found easy fodder in them to harvest as political or religious thugs in furtherance of their selfish intent. The disparity between a Southern child/youth and Northern youth is 20:1. Whereas the average Southern youth can question reckless authority and speak the truth to power, the Northern youth is muted due to lack of education or skillful empowerment hence are easily manipulated by politicians and their religious captains for thuggery and banditry. However, it has become clearly lately that the numbers of these almajiris have risen to the millions and no longer containable by their selfish masters and are becoming restive, a dangerous nuisance to the North. It's this realization that caused the Northern Governors forum to agree that almajiris should be repatriated to their states of origin as an emergency measure to curtail their menance. We can see this happening now in the North and simultaneously these almajiris are now being massively smuggled in their thousands into Southern territories under the watch of our idiotic Southern leaders and Governors who are only concerned with their perfidious looting. Under their watch these dangerous angry hungry unskilled and uneducated lot are being smuggled into Southern territories to do what? As Asari Dokubo recently warned, the burn fire is upon us in the South and we must wake up from our slumber before we all get engulfed in it. The pending Almajirin burn fire has now progressed from the clandestine to the brazen. There is something sinister in the offing. The rabbit does not run about in the day for nothing. Every Southern community must wake up and set up vigilante groups at their respective borders to check those who come in and why they are coming in such large numbers. These are foot soldiers in advance deployed under a decoy. As happened in Benue state, very soon helicopters would be sighted dropping arms for them in the cover of night. The Southern court jesters in this administration who  are only useful for foolish errand must now count their tongue otherwise they and their families too would not be spared by this Almajirin burn fire that is nigh. The irony is that these Northern leaders do not believe in this child marriage and the almajirin culture in as much as it concerns their own sons and daughters who they send to the most expensive schools locally and overseas to attain quality degrees and skills. At the end they deliberately and purposely match mate them with similar children from well heeled backgrounds. The young innocent boys roam the streets eternally with hunger, anger and hatefulness against the society that has failed them. Their Northern leaders couldn't be bothered about their plight as they found easy fodder in them to harvest as political or religious thugs in furtherance of their selfish intent. Whereas the average Southern youth can question reckless authority and speak the truth to power, the Northern youth is muted due to lack of education or skillful empowerment hence are easily manipulated by politicians and their religious captains for thuggery and banditry. Simultaneously these almajiris are now being massively smuggled in their thousands into Southern territories under the watch of our idiotic Southern leaders and Governors who are only concerned with their perfidious looting. Under their watch these dangerous angry hungry unskilled and uneducated lot are being smuggled into Southern territories to do what?-Peter Collins .
Peter Collins is an Immigration Solicitor based in London, United Kingdom.