Niger approves N86m for repatriation, quarantine of Almajirai

The Niger State government, yesterday, approved N86 million for the quarantine, feeding and repatriation of almajirai to their various states of origin.

The state Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Hannatu Salihu, said at a news conference in Minna that the approval was given during the weekly Executive Council meeting.

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She said the move was in line with the Northern Governors Forum’s decision that all state governments should return almajirai to their various states as part of measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

She further said that 86 almajirai were returned and reunited with their parents in the first phase.

The commissioner added that 557 almajirai out of 708 were taken back to their states during the second phase of repatriation.

She said that 139 of them from the state were reunited with their families through the Niger State Child Rights Protection Agency, while 12 were foreigners, and two others could not identify their states of origin.

On the reopening of schools in the state, the commissioner said the ministry held two stakeholders meeting to review the COVID-19 responses and guidelines implementation.

She said the meetings were to come up with recommendations in line with the Presidential Task Force and Federal Ministry of Education guidelines on COVID-19 on the reopening of schools.

“If schools must be reopened, we must first consider the health of the students and the teachers.

“For now, we cannot give a tentative date for reopening of schools until all the recommendations are put in place,” she said.

Salihu said the state government was doing its best to ensure the protection of the lives of the children. (NAN)