Dr Goni Umar Farouk is the chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Kano State chapter. Farouk, who also obtained his PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, United States, spoke on the detention of the minors and what the North can take out of it.
What is your view on the participation of minors in the #EndBadGovernance protest and their subsequent arrest?
Well, it is unfortunate that it happened, but you know, the minors were not perhaps even aware of why the protest was taking place. They may have just joined the processions. On days of celebrations like Eid and Christmas, you’d see them just following any march. When the emirs go to the praying ground, they just follow. So it is unfortunate that anytime we have protests, everybody on the street would just follow.
How does this particular episode portray northern Nigeria?
The issue of the image of the North should not be linked to this situation. You know we have been talking about the out-of-school children, so this is not something new. We have millions of children who are not in school, who are not employed, whose parents do not even know where they are, what they are doing and where they are living.
So, it is not the protest that has shown the North to be having problems. It is a problem that has been with us for many years. Unless parents look after their children, give them moral upbringing and training, send them to school, this kind of situation will continue.
What should be the role of parents and the society in all of these?
Parents have a role to play but you see, when they are not employed and they do not have any means of livelihood, this affects their children. To stop this kind of situation, first of all, before you come to the government, parents must make sure that they have the number of children they can take care of. They should be with them; they should not send them out to beg.
They should not send them far away for Qur’anic education, where they would end up begging on the streets and whenever there is any protest or riot they just join. Look at what happened when the NCC digital innovation park was looted and the children were there.
What is the way forward?
Government must make sure they remove the underage children from the streets. Once they are on the streets, it (protest) would continue to happen. So, government has a role. Maybe the state assembly should enact a legislation that would stop children from roaming about, and you know, if you are to ask these children who were arrested, their states of origin, you will find that most of them are not from Kano. The government, I learnt, has started a census for foreigners, but it should also conduct census of people roaming the street, who perhaps, are not even indigenes of the state and ask them why they are here; what profession or trade they are into. If they don’t have any, the government must find a way of addressing the problem.
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