Almajiri Child Rights Initiative (ACRI) is to provide medicare, food and non-food items, such as shoes, clothes and toiletries to about 5000 Almajiri children across 17 northern states in Nigeria.
In an address, on Saturday at the 2019 Global Day for Impact of Almajiri Child Right, ACRI Sokoto state Coordinator, Sani Dantuni, emphasised the need for the legislative and executive arms of government as well as groups to pursue an all-encompassing solution to child destitution in Nigeria.
He pointed out that: “At our current rate, over 9 million Almajiri children will be part of those who have been failed by the rest of us.”
Nigeria and the world at large, he stressed, needed to resolve Almajiri child right crises to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
“With, at least, 8 out of the 17 SDGs connected to the plight of Almajiri children, it simply means that they considered child rights as critical to the attainment of the SDGs in Northern Nigeria,” he added.
Sokoto State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Balarabe Kakale, said relevant state government organs and the State Assembly would be mobilized toward enhancing the lives of Almajiri child.
Also, Director, Almajiri Integrated School in State Ministry of Religious Affairs, Alhaji Bello Umar-Aula, disclosed that the state government was studying the laws on the Almajiri system.
He said very soon the government would also take action on improving the lives of vulnerable children living in Sokoto state.