Re: Dangote’s next job

Thanks a lot for your excellent article giving our famous Alhaji Aliko Dangote the job/task of confronting the Almajiri system in Nigeria but mainly an issue bedevilling the Muslim North in its cruel treatment of children, mostly of the rural poor. Time and time again, over several decades, the issue has raised many debates. In my understanding, the issues have more to do with poverty and over population arising from a distorted understanding of Islam leading to an unsustainable polygamous society where people that cannot cope with their basic obligations of feeding, clothing and sheltering their offsprings, particularly the male child, will send them away, especially immediately after farming and harvest season.

Agreed, the quest for Qur’anic education used to be the case for parents sending their male children hundreds of miles away from home. But this is no longer tenable in today’s world, based on modern tools available as equally highlighted in your article, but also the fact that the basic Qur’anic education could be obtained in the immediate vicinity of any village or town as there are many capable Mallams around. In summary, so long as we ignore the issue of over population vis a vis Ratio of Income to Responsibility, the issue of Almajiris and the alarming rate of millions of out of school children will continue to haunt the north in particular and Nigeria in general. Please, note that the beneficiaries of the system, i.e. the Mallams will vehemently oppose any reform and in some cases politicians and the elites are their clienteles.

(Anonymous) 

Dangote’s next job is to invest in the cattle business. There are about 20 million cattle in Nigeria without a business strategy to turn the cattle value-chain into a source of economic prosperity for Nigerians. If he chooses to undertake this venture, with far less than the $20bn, he injected into the refinery, he will end cattle rustling, end inter-ethnic feuds, end perennial herders-farmers’ crises, end nomadism and prepare herders to be inheritors of the benefits of twenty-first century civilisation. Above all else, it will contribute positively to nation-building in Nigeria. Almajirism is a religio-cultural phenomenon whose roots are deeply embedded in northern Islamism. Its solution lay in the will power and courage of the northern Islamic establishment to radically revolutionise its Islamic practices, which the former Emir of Kano, HRH Sanusi Lamido, said were of thirteenth century provenance.

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Atah Pine, Makurdi, Benue State

Thanks for your piece ‘Dangote’s next job’ in today’s Daily Trust. It’s a very important issue for all Northerners. My concern is that you are, like all of us, running away from the real cause. Why does the North allow someone to keep children that he has no capacity to train? I mean no food, shelter, and other necessities. We keep shying from letting ourselves know this is illegal and un-islamic. The idea of feeding will never work, Sir, giving our propensity to begging.

My take is that we must disallow any Malam to carry children of the poor in the name of giving them Qur’anic education. We must be bold enough to do this. Otherwise, the problem will never go. My apologies for being blunt. Thank you.

08036590066

Your write up in the Daily Trust of 29 April, 2024 refers please. I found in your write up titled “Dangote’s Next Job” nothing but clever attempt by a northern elite to excuse or justify the failure of northern political leaders to stamp out Almajiri system from the Muslim North. Nothing gave you away more than your claim that President Jonathan’s effort in establishing what he called Almajiri schools was political. If the attempt was political, why didn’t the government that succeeded Jonathan led by a northerner depoliticise the Jonathan’s political effort and use it along with northern governors to genuinely stamp out the Almajiri system from their own part of the country for the good of the country and its future? Instead, they all chose to shamelessly abandon the project because the present situation seems to favour them and members of their families. After all, how many of them could have attained the level of education they had and at the time they did if not for lack of stiff competition, due to paucity of applicants, from their own part of the country?

I wish you good luck in your new found endeavour of shifting responsibilities from northern political leaders who have both financial and political power to solve the problem to Aliko Dangote and with other wealthy northerners who may have the money but lack political power to bring about relevant legislation for its eradication.

Once more good luck!

Ahmad S. Sharu ([email protected])

Your write up on “Dangote’s next job” is worth attention. But the proposal of free meals to Almajiri is not possible, and l repeat, not possible.

08035868940

Re: Dangote’s next job. This is a highly well-intentioned “offer” to a man with a good heart. But I believe you intended the opening of your third paragraph to be: “The completion (not competition) and take-off of the Dangote refining complex…”

Gabriel Gwajime, Abuja (07066825104)

The error is deeply regretted.

Thank you, Suleiman

Morning, Dr Suleiman. Your piece “Dangote’s next job” in today’s Daily Trust makes an interesting reading. Thank you for giving the business tycoon another rewarding and humane job. I’m sure Dangote will accept the offer.

Umar Jibril Gusau (08163233366)

Salam, Suleiman. How is work and family. The almajiri issue is a disease in Northern Nigeria and must be eradicated at all cost. Yesterday, I was at Orange Market and I summoned some few almajiri, this is a habit I have developed over the years of going to the market.  I asked them, as usual, their names, state and how many izzu they have memorised, the highest was suratul mulk. And to my amazement, one of the boys said he was from Ghana. I was shocked. The government needs to do the needful and not only Dangote but all the traditional institutions we have and all the big and mighty in the North. Because, it is a Northern issue. Please, keep pushing and giving more people jobs like you just did to Dangote. We are here to support you. And thanks for the insightful columns.

08036130590

Good morning, Prof. As usual, I always admire your thinking for your weekly column. You know better than me; Northern elites are enemies of education. Secondly, in your write-up, what happens to those reckless fathers who brought plenty of children that they could not take care of? I think the government should bring more sanctions to those parents. Governors of the North should participate to reduce out-of-school children.

Thank you, Prof. Your hearts are for the Northerners always proud of you. More blessings to your pen.

Lawal Usman ([email protected])

SAS. In, ‘Dangote’s next job’, and on a lighter note, you bypassed me, his (Dangote’s) college classmate to raise the Almajiri project job offer to him. But you are right to think along the line that as a full-blown northerner, Africa’s richest man should worry that most of the Almajirai and out of school children in the county come from the North. But in your invisible letter of job offer to the President of Dangote Group, you somewhat avoided going into the methodological details of the job. For instance, I am aware that my former school mate has the Dangote Foundation. But truth be told, plenty of us his well wishers do not feel the Foundation is making waves commensurate to the national and international standing of Alhaji Aliko. Are you suggesting that the Dangote Foundation be reorganised or expanded to handle the Almajiri project or a different outfit like Dangote Almajiri or Educational Foundation be set up?

Although you avoided mentioning the credible person now in charge of the newly established Out of School Children and Almajiri Commission, sure you are referring to its Board Chairman, Gen Lawan Jaafaru Isa, a former military governor of defunct Kaduna State. Since both Dangote and Jaafaru Isa are from Kano State getting them to compare notes on the issue becomes much easier. But in this your job offer to Dangote, who will fire the first shot? For instance, the Almajiri Commission can recommend to the federal government to designate Dangote as the Goodwill Ambassador for Almajiri and other out of school related educational issues. This may ginger him to pick your ‘next’ job offer. Even as you described yourself a simple journalist with pen and paper, you may be amazed at the eventual positive difference your job offer to Dangote may bring about.

Garba Isa (08029169551)