The Federation of Muslim Women’s Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN) says the 10 million out-of-school Almajiri children pose great threat to the future of the nation.

The group said it has thus engaged the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) to collaborate on the Almajiri issue.

“Ten million Almajiri children in Nigeria have rights to quality education that will make them productive Nigerians in the future.

“It will be a colossal waste for this nation if no action is taken to help them develop their innate potentials.

“We need to focus on the provision of a broad education which builds spirituality, skills and capacity to navigate other spaces in life,” FOMWAN national amirah, Dr Amina Jibril said in Abuja on Thursday.

Mrs Jibril, speaking at the 36th Annual Conference of the organisation, said FOMWAN has enrolled 10,000 out-of-school children in Bauchi and Sokoto states in recent years.

These were at the basic and secondary levels of education.

“From inception, FOMWAN sought to establish, in unequivocal terms, and with backing from the Quran and hadith of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) the importance of a broad education for all Muslims, and particularly the girl child as a mandatory requirement of life.

“Education is like the engine which moves the car to all destinations. Without it we will be all static, no development can take place.

”It is in the light of this that FOMWAN has made its mark in its contributions to the basic education sector in Nigeria through the establishment of Islamic-oriented nursery/primary/secondary schools in 26 States and the FCT.

”This is in addition to the over 2000 Women’s Islamiyyah classes where religious knowledge, and vocational skills are taught to women,” Mrs Jibril said.

She called on UBEC and the SUBEBs to leverage on FOMWAN’s structure, acceptance by communities, and existing work in education with a view to creating access for more rural children to basic education.

Mrs Jibril also noted that an advisory committee had been set up by the Board of Trustees on the proposed FOMWAN University to contribute to the education sector in the country.

On women economic empowerment, Mrs Jibril said that 280 million households across the nation had benefited from the FOMWAN palliatives through cash transfers, donation of foodstuff among others.

She noted that there was a need to move away from palliatives to actualising economic empowerment for women in order to influence the poverty index and close the inequality gap.

Mrs Jibril pledged the association`s readiness to work with development partners to promote inclusiveness of marginalised groups in the country.

(NAN)