What’s FG’s business with Almajiri “education”? By Ochereome Nnanna
A couple of weeks ago, a friend from Abuja sent me an article on the armed atrocities of the various Northern-bred jihadist groups, especially Fulani terrorists masquerading as herdsmen. We got talking about it, and he said, by the grace of God, a good leader would come “fix” Nigeria. I laughed at him and told him, point-blank, that if Nigeria continues in its current trajectory, it’s already gone. From independence, we have been moving steadily from a constitutional republic toward an Islamic caliphate. This singular factor has reduced the once-touted “giant of Africa” to the “poverty capital of the world.”
As a journalist and columnist, I have chronicled Nigeria’s live political history for the past forty years of active journalism. Each time Nigerians were given an opportunity to choose their leader, they always picked the worst from among the contenders because of ethnic, religious, and regional sentiments. From 1999, the quality of each succeeding president has been poorer than those of his predecessors (except for Bola Tinubu, who is slightly better than the worst of all time, Muhammadu Buhari).
Nigeria is a classical proof of the disaster of multiculturalism in modern democratic societies. The only way multiculturalism can work is when the domination of a group is accepted by the rest for whatever reason, and that dominant group properly accommodates the other lesser groups. There is a Bible verse that the creators of Nigeria never took into account. In the book of Amos 3:3 it says, “Can two walk together unless they are agreed?” Nigeria is an entity where three major cultural blocs – Hausa and Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba – were forced together by a foreign colonial adventurer, Britain, despite their clashing differences.
Even in the Lancaster House talks in London and Ibadan in the 1950s, where indigenous leaders negotiated for independence, separation was a no-go area. The delegates were forced to accept “unity in diversity” because it advanced the post-independence interests of the colonial masters. Years later, the North-controlled military used the same strategy to make sure that certain areas that advanced the interests of their religion and region (such as Sharia) were forced into our otherwise “secular” 1979 constitution, which persists in the 1999 variant. Thus, an Islamic image of Nigeria is falsely projected to the world, especially the Muslim world. The military forced it through despite protests from the South.
Nigeria has three major religions: Christianity, Traditional worship, and Islam. The Christians and Traditionalists are very conformist and loyal to our constitutional order. Among the Muslim community, South West Muslims are also very conformist to our constitutional order. Their Islam is well conduced to peaceful coexistence, not nuisance. Like the East, South West does not allow their religious preference to come between them and other Nigerians, especially politically.
The problem, always, is the typical Northern Muslim. He sees his own Islam as a tool of political and economic expansionism or empire building. This ideology was foisted by the Fulani Sokoto Caliphate, which the very docile Hausa majority, who are predominantly Muslims, see as their duty to propagate. Slowly but steadily, many national symbols which ought to reflect the religious neutrality of our constitution have been Islamised. You see it in our national currency notes, the Naira, where the Islamic/Arabic inscriptions (ajami), which mean nothing to other Nigerians, are generously displayed without parliamentary debate or approval.
In the same vein, the motto of the Nigerian Army is primarily inscribed in Arabic and explained to us as “Victory comes from God.” Since we don’t all worship the same god, which of the gods does this refer to? Obviously, the god of the inscriber, since there is no record that the inscription was constitutionally approved. You see it also in the state sponsorship of Muslim (and later, after protests, Christian) pilgrimages to foreign “holy” lands, a condemnable practice that persists under this Tinubu administration.
The latest advancement of Islamic infiltration is the creation of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children. It was one of Buhari’s deplorable final acts before vacating Aso Villa in May 2023. In truth, it was President Olusegun Obasanjo who inserted Almajiri “education” into the Universal Basic Education which he created in 2004, thus migrating the Tsangaya/Almajiri Quranic “education” into federal funding. Also, President Goodluck Jonathan built 157 Almajiri schools hoping for Northern support for his re-election. They still fronted his ouster.
We return to the question: what business does the Federal Government (or even any government in Nigeria) have with funding and promoting Islamic “education”? The money belongs to all, not just Muslims. Why use it to benefit only Muslims? Out-of-school children does not mean “out of almajiri school.” There are many non-Muslim children who are out of school, even in the South. Religion (including religious education) is a personal affair, not the business of any government under the constitution.
Christians also have their religious schools. Catholics have their independently run seminaries and convents, which are the same as Tsangaya/Almajiri schools. The students are called the oblati, just as Muslims call theirs almajirai. Protestants also operate schools up to university levels without government kobo. Why should government impose the burden of Islamic “education” on our commonly owned treasury?
Unfortunately, even otherwise Christian leaders, like Obasanjo and Jonathan, blindly fronted Koranic schooling and greased the wheel for Buhari to set up a federal commission for it. When we talk about Islamisation of Nigeria, this is one of the strategies. It is working for Muslims because the Christians and Traditionalists are too blind, deaf, dumb, docile, and peace-loving to react properly to the danger. Sheikh Sani Jingir arrogantly summed it up at a recent APC rally in Kano: “Muslim-Muslim ticket has come to stay. We are putting Christians in their place.” He was applauded. Bend down, and your enemy will climb your back!
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