Taraba State government has rejected almajiri evacuated from Nasarawa State to Taraba.
Daily Trust gathered that the almajiri arrived Jalingo from Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, at about 3am on Monday in four buses.
The almajiri, along with officials of Nasarawa State Ministry of Women Affairs, slept outside the office of Secretary to Taraba State Government in Jalingo and were only received by some officials in the office at 10am.
It was further gathered that the almajiri were later asked to leave to the entrance of Jalingo town’s gate along Jalingo- Wukari road to wait for officials of the state.
Daily Trust gathered that the almajiri were escorted by security men to the city gate where they waited for several hours.
The Taraba State officials later met with the officials of Nasarawa State government about 12.45pm and handed over a letter with instructions to take back the almajiri to Nasarawa State, Daily Trust further learnt.
The letter, from the office of Secretary to Taraba State Government, dated 4 May,2020 with reference number: SGS/ADM/S/167/11/125. and signed by one Sunday Tanko Maiyaki, Permanent Secretary Political Cabinet Affairs and General Services, was sighted by Daily Trust.
The letter read in part; “the number of pupils brought to Taraba State are 79 not 102 as stated in the letter brought from Nasarawa state.
“The government of Taraba State wish to return the pupils to you and requests that the pupils should be properly, profiled, indicating their local government of origin in Taraba State and individual status in respect of the pandemic,” the letter said.
The letter further directed that the pupils should be accompanied by their respective teachers who will identify their parents at their respective local government areas and properly hand them over to their parents.
Officials, who accompanied the almajiri and spoke with our reporter on condition of anonymity, expressed dismay over the action of Taraba State government.
He said all the almajiri were kept in isolation in a secondary school in Lafia and tested for coronavirus, adding that their results came back negative.
The official stated that Nasarawa had evacuated over 1000 almajiri to their respective states, adding that only Taraba turned them back.
“We are asked to take the almajiri back to Nasarawa with a letter addressed to secretary to Nasarawa state government and N100,000 to fuel our vehicles,” the official said.
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