Dr. Bashir Aliyu Umar is the Chief Imam of Alfur’qan Mosque in Kano. The Islamic cleric shares his perspectives on the situation in the North in this interview.
During the last protest, it was observed that the North witnessed more violence than other parts of the country; what was responsible for that?
Violence among youths can be traced to many things, principally, because they are young and other social and economic conditions. There are so many disruptions as a result of economic conditions; the hunger, poverty, unemployment and also the breakdown of the family unit. Secondly, moral upbringing has been seriously affected. The youths are being influenced by what they see on social media. But the immediate cause can be traced back to what can be termed as insensitivity of the political class. At a time that the general populace is being called upon to be patient, we see the political class living very well.
You mentioned moral decadence in the North, why is this so?
Moral decadence has become an issue in the North, couple with the drug abuse issue. These are part of social disruptions that we are having. Parents are also not monitoring their children. Many people in the North have taken on responsibilities that are beyond their means, with multiple wives among others. The parents are then unable to care for the children and they are growing up without parental care. Definitely, when you don’t monitor your children and train them, you expose them to the evils of the society. Our society is a religious one and the Ulamas are doing their best. But then, if you look at the percentage of the Ulamas, the ratio of the clerics to the population of the society, you will find that it is too small. The principal cause is the role of the parents; in many cases, they have abandoned their responsibilities. Even the issue of Almajiri, was borne out of parents abandoning their responsibilities. The frequent example cited is this; you find a father in the North, when he doesn’t see his goat at the end of the day, he will go out and look for it and tie it. But when it has to do with his son or daughter, he will not mind where s/he has gone or slept. You can find people who send their daughters out to sleep at neighbors’ houses and some of these girls are very young. So definitely, upbringing has a lot to do with the moral decadence, especially among the youths.
Some analysts say parents are having more children than they can care for in the North. Do you agree?
The population explosion we are seeing is an asset itself. We are witnessing what’s happening in Europe, where they are complaining of population. So population can be an asset as long as people do not abandon their responsibilities. The problem of the North is not that they are having more children; the issue is that they are abandoning the children they have. There is no doubt that there is permission to take more than one wife, but the person must be ready to bear the responsibility of the children. People must realise that caring for the family is primary. People have to know that it’s a big sin for someone to abandon his responsibility to his family.
What are the clerics doing about this?
The role of the clerics is essentially to create awareness, preach and teach the general populace values to enable them do what is right. And the clerics are doing their best on this, but then, remember that their ratio in comparison to the population is quite negligible. In addition, the clerics always preach about the responsibility of fathers to members of their families.
Also, the mosques are being used to take care of out-of-school children. Classes are being organised for them in the mosques. Indeed clerics have been participating in efforts aimed at bringing institutional reform to the social condition in the North. There are quite a number of efforts that have been made through the involvement of the traditional institution and religious institution. The Ulamas are quite active, especially in checking violence against women and taking responsibility for the education of girls. Also clerics in Kano are developing something called; personal status courts that we hope will be adopted in the state. The personal status courts have not been qualified and adopted in any state. When that is done, it is hoped that it will help to provide social reform. The first area is in education; people will be educated on the provisions of Shari’a regarding family responsibilities. The second area is that the court will ease the judicial process by increasing the knowledge of the judges on the provisions of Shari’a.
What is your view on the Almajiri issue?
The Almajiri issue is certainly one of the major problems of the North. It contributes to youth restiveness. Unless we address this problem, most of our social problems will not be tackled. There have been so many efforts, but they need to be harmonised. After that they should be practicalised and adopted because what we are seeing is that instead of the problem to reduce, it is escalating. There is no doubt that the Almajiri students contributed to what we saw during the protest. Because the Almajiri are people that are young and fearless. They are young children who feel that they don’t have anything at stake. Unfortunately, the political class, instead of addressing the symptoms, they are only exploiting the problems. They want the children to remain on the streets to serve as political thugs for them. Sometimes, you even feel that it’s in the interest of the political class to continue having this army of youth on the streets.
There have been efforts aimed at addressing this problem, yet it is persisting. Why?
The failure to address the Almajiri issue is clearly evidence of our collective failure. The North has failed as a region, the traditional leaders have failed, the Ulamas have failed and the general society has failed on this issue. And the best way to address it is for all of us to take our roles and responsibilities seriously. The political class has a duty, traditional rulers, Ulamas, and the general society all have roles to play. Before, the general society used to take the mission seriously. They had what was called, “Uwar gida”, to take care of the children. They were integrated into the family structure and not just left to itinerant scholars to carry them where ever they want. Now, the system has changed, the social problems have become normal and the population explosion that we are witnessing makes it impossible for that arrangement to work. We have to put a stop to the migration of the Almajiris. We should also deal with the out-of-school syndrome. We should seriously pursue the education of this group of people by making resources available.
On a whole, how can the burning issues in the North be addressed?
The issues in the North have to be addressed at different fronts; with different approaches. Some are short term, some are long term and some are medium. Among the short term measures that need to be addressed; is unemployment. We have to integrate skills into our education system. There is need to equip the youths with different skills, so that when they leave school, they can take care of themselves. The federal and state governments need to find a way to ensure that youths maximise the benefits of the intervention programmes. The youths also have to make a conscious effort to see that they benefit from the intervention programmes. The political class also, has to reform itself and must take into cognisance the situation in the country. When there is hardship, you don’t just implore the people suffering to be patient, you do the trickling down theory with them. They have to also make genuine sacrifices by reducing the cost of governance so that the amount of money that is saved is channelled towards things that will benefit the general society. The medium and long term goals will have to be addressed through serious reforms.
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