Almajiri children most brilliant people God created – Peter Obi
Peter Obi, a former presidential candidate, has said that Almajiri children in Nigeria’s northern region, are the “most brilliant people God created.”
Obi said this at a political forum in Abuja, comprising opposition politicians planning to coalesce to stop President Bola Tinubu re-election in 2027.
The Almajiri system of education is practiced mainly in Nigeria’s northern region, whereby young boys and girls are sent to live with Mallam (teacher) to acquire Quranic education.
At the forum, Obi said deplored the poverty and insecurity bedevilling the region while stressing the importance of education.
He said: “We need to invest in education”
“We can’t talk about free universal basic education when people are not going to school. Our children are not in school.
“I’ve taken time to go to the north and sat down with the Almajiri children; they are the most brilliant people God created. If they can’t go to school, take the school to them.”
Obi, who is one of the arrowheads of the planned political coalition, alongside former Nigeria’s vice presidential candidate Abubakar Atiku, stressing that poverty is causal factor for the insecurity facing Nigeria.
“And when you have poverty, you have humanity that you cannot control because when people don’t know where the next meal will come from, you can never control their actions,” Obi stated.
“And they easily recruit (sic),” Obi said, implying the tendency of bandits and terrorists to enlist young persons as fighters. Obi put the blame for the situation on the government.
“It all rests on the government to solve it,” he said, adding that investment in agriculture in the north “ can change Nigeria.”
He said: The greatest asset of this country is the north. I have always said it; we can make more money from agriculture than we make from oil.
“This entire country produces less than six million tonnes of rice; that is less than 10 percent of what Bangladesh produces.
Bangladesh is a country that lives on 148,600sq of land that is the size of two northern states: Niger at 76.3 and Borno at 70.8. equals to what?”
He also challenged the government to solve the insecurity plaguing the country by addressing the issue of poverty.
“The more you pull people out of poverty, the more you solve insecurity,” Obi stated.
