Sambo Wants 9.5m Almajirai In Education System

Vice-President Arc. Namadi Sambo says the integration of the more than 9.5 million “Almajirai’’ into Nigeria’s education system will aid the country’s educational development.

He said this when he inaugurated Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Almajirai Bi-lingual (Model Boarding) Primary School at Maraban Gwanda in the Sabon-Garin neighbourhood of Zaria, Kaduna State.

Sambo said that the integration of the “Almajirai’’ would not only foster the country’s educational development but would also curtail drug addiction and other criminal tendencies.

He said that President Goodluck Jonathan had approved the establishment of similar Almajirai Model Schools across the northern part of the country.

He, nonetheless, called for a change of attitude by parents in the region toward the education of their children.

Besides, Sambo appealed to all Nigerians to live in peace with one another so as to foster the country’s growth and development.

In his speech, Gov. Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State described education as a veritable tool for personal, societal and national growth.

He commended the vice president for initiating the Almajirai Model School in Kaduna State when he was  governor and for selling the idea to the Federal Government.

Yakowa said that there were currently six Almajirai Model Schools in the state, adding, however, that the state government had identified 35 Arabic/Qur’anic schools for the pilot scheme.

He urged parents and teachers to support the state government’s efforts aimed at restoring the lost glory of education in the state.

Also speaking, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, said that the essence of the “Almajirai’’ schools was to make the pupils to become self-sufficient later in life.

Abubakar, who was represented by the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, solicited the construction of more of “Almajirai’’ schools to enable more “Almajirai’’ to benefit from the programme.