The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), in partnership with voluntary organisations in Sokoto State, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and others to hasten the enactment of the Almajiri education law.

Yakubu Abubakar, the NCYN chairman, Sokoto State chapter, made the call at a joint press conference on Sunday in Sokoto.

Mr Abubakar and others appealed for the passage of Almajiri Education and Out of School Children Bill 2023, which was initiated and sponsored by Rep. Balarabe Kakale (PDP Sokoto) and 17 other lawmakers.

He said the bill, when passed into law, would ensure that government provides a multimodal system of education that would tackle illiteracy and develop skills acquisition and entrepreneurship programmes.

”We urged the Senate to give the bill a speedy passage for Mr President to approve as soon as it gets to the Presidency.

”We are also calling on the federal government to engage Nigerian youths in implementing the law.

”NYCN urged state governments, especially northern states, to domesticate the law in their respective states,” Mr Abubakar said.

The groups commended Mr Buhari for assenting to the Nigeria Start Bill (NSB) and stakeholders involved in providing the constitutional establishment of the Start-Up Act, 2022, which supports youth Entrepreneurs.

Participants commended Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state for sending the executive bill on Almajiri education to the state assembly.

The groups also urged youths and political party candidates for the forthcoming 2023 elections to shun violence during and after the elections and engage in productive means of living.

In a Goodwill message, the district head of Gagi, Sani Umar-Jabbi, described the moves as timely, attributing the rising cases of out-of-school children to poverty, parental neglect, poor adherence to family planning, population upsurge, misconceptions, insecurity and others.

He lamented that the recent poverty index released, which showed that Sokoto was rated high on poverty, did not reflect Qur’anic education as literacy, and many citizens in Sokoto state can read Arabic alphabets popularly called the Ajami system.

The 42 organisations that participated included 21st Century Entrepreneurs Hub, Hausa-Fulani Youth Development and Orientation Forum, Voice of Nigerian Almajiri, Association of Physically Challenged Persons, Federated of Sokoto State Students and others. 

(NAN)