Concerns Mount Over Growing Trend Of Almajiri System In Southsouth, Southeast

State governors met to check influx of almajiri kids from the north

Ohaeneze threatens to act decisively if the exodus of almajiri kids from north to SS, SE is not curtailed

Government of Delta and Anambra state have met to stem the tide of massive incursion of almajiri kids from northern part of the country to South South and South East.

The government of the two states bemoaned the relocation and influx of northern youths into the regions despite a subsisting ban on interstate travels.

According to The Nation, the state governments and other stakeholders met to nip the trend in its bud.

The highest Igbo socio-cultural organisation, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Igbo National Council (INC) and the Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU) called for a halt to the influx.

The Nation reports that as part of its effort to check the influx, the Anambra state governor, Willie Obiano had erected a small barricade at the pedestrian part of the Niger Bridge at Onitsha in Anambra State.

But, the barricade was pulled down by the Delta State government officials last weekend.

Consequently, following the lapses in communication, both states have held talks on how to work together to manage the situation.

Anambra Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Don Adinuba, said officials met three times over the matter.

He said they would meet again today to conclude arrangements on how to check the Almajirai influx.

“The meetings have been held in a very convivial and brotherly manner. Subsequent meetings will follow the same trajectory of peace and solidarity.

“Each party is quite committed to the battle against the coronavirus pandemic,” Adinuba said.

Ohanaeze President in Anambra State, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, last week said the Federal Government had failed to effectively enforce its order banning interstate travel.

“We must take our security in our hands. No other person can do that,” he said.

The INC described the relocation of the Amajirai as an assault on Ndigbo.

Its President, Chilos Confident, expressed dismay at what he called the clandestine movement of the Almajirai into various communities and towns in Igboland.

He urged Igbo leaders to reinvigorate their vigilante outfits and initiate an identification exercise in their communities.

ASATU National President Chief Alex Onukwue wondered why the Almajirai were moving to the Southeast rather than returning to their states of origin.

“We wish to warn that should this callous business of shipping strange persons continue, Almajirai or not, from the North or elsewhere to Anambra State in light of COVID-19 restrictions, we will be left with no choice than to confront the situation with all the seriousness it deserves. We can no longer take it as child’s play,” he said.

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Also, Ohanaeze Youths, in a statement by its National Deputy President, Dr Kingsly Dozie, urged the Southeast states to ensure the Almajirai returned to where they came from.

“We will no longer tolerate the sabotage by security operatives who should man our borders and stop the influx of the Almajiris, including suspected Boko Haram extremists,” he said in a statement.

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) said the free movement of the Almajirai, despite the lockdown, was a threat to efforts to curtail the spread of Coronavirus.

National Vice President (Southeast) Dr Cosmas Ilechukwu said it was strange and inexcusable that “these men and women are flooding into the Southeast despite the nationwide lockdown and ban on interstate travel”.

Traditional rulers in Anambra State also urged the Federal Government and the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) to strictly enforce the ban on interstate travel.

Obi of Onitsha Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe and other monarchs made their position known in a communique issued after an expanded Executive Committee meeting of the Anambra Traditional Ruler’s Council.

The monarchs “noted, particularly, the mass exportation of Alamajiris from some Northern states to the South (Lagos, Edo, Abia, Rivers, etc) despite the ban on interstate travels”.

They “expressed serious concern that many of them may already be infected with COVID-19, and urged the government to ensure that they do not enter Anambra State since they would not fit into our economic, social and cultural environment.”