– President Muhammadu Buhari says state and local governments are to blame for the issue of Almajiris
– President Buhari says federal government gives money to state and local governments, but they have not been fulfilling their own part of the bargain
– According to the president, state and local governments are the ones that can take care of the issue of Almajiris
President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed state and local governments for the lingering issue of out-of-school children, known as Almajiris in the north.
Punch reports that the president said Nigeria is still experiencing the problem of Almajiris because state and local governments have not been fulfilling their own part of the bargain.
Tracknews.ng gathers that President Buhari said the federal government gives money to state and local governments, adding that they are the ones that can take care of the issue of Almajiris.
The president said: “But because they didn’t do their job, that’s why we still have the issue of Almajiris.”
Report has it that the federal government earmarked more than N67bn between 2005 and 2017 for the Universal Basic Education scheme, but the fund is yet to be accessed.
Report said: “This is because state governments have been delinquent in providing the matching grants or counterpart funds that will enable them to draw down the funds, and use it for the intended purpose.”
According to report, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Lagos, Rivers, and the Federal Capital Territory did not access the funds from 2005 up to 2017.
Meanwhile, Tracknews.ng previously reported that a survey by the United Nations revealed that the number of Nigerian kids who are out of school rose from 10.5 million to 13.2 million, the highest in the world.
The children are in Nigeria’s northern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where Boko Haram insurgency has paralysed academic activities.
Expressing her worries about the future of her kids, one of the mothers, Favour Shikaan, said lack of financial capability forced her children out of school.
She said: “They are four in number and… two are going to school. The other one is small actually, but even though she’s small, she has grown to the stage whereby she can go to school if not the financial…like the two that are going to transport from here to Apo resettlement everyday is not easy because there’s no money due to our economy today.”
