Relocation Of Almajirai Is An 'Orchestrated Game Plan' - Ohanaeze Ndigbo

The National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Uche Achi-Okpaga, has said that the recent moves by governors of states in the northern region, in their removal of Almajirai from their states, is a way of shifting the "burden to other places where people have been able to mind their business."

In recent times, since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, many states in the North have repatriated Almajirai kids to other states, in a bid to curb the spread of the virus in their respective states.

Most of the kids have been repatriated to states like Jigawa, Yobe, and Kano states, with many of them testing positive for the virus, causing the state governments in the north to put every returned Almajiri child in an isolation centre pending the return of their test results.

Mr. Uche, in an interview with The PUNCH, posed questions regarding the movement of the Almajirai, asking how they get to move around and who the sponsors of their interstate trips are.

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He called the move an "orchestrated game plan."

He said, “As an apex Igbo social-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze is worried about the influx of Almajirai to southern Nigeria.

“However, it is a multifaceted problem. You remember that it was during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan that schools were built for Almajirai. The northerners were in power all the while and they never thought of it.

“Even after Jonathan built the schools for them, they did not envisage that in the near future the Almajirai would become a very big problem to the North. I think this is an orchestrated game plan.

“The Almajirai are moving in large number and travelling in trucks and buses. The question you should ask is who are those people providing those buses? The Almajirai we know don’t have money and they cannot afford to travel to far places in buses.

“So who are those providing the buses that are used to transport them within and outside the north? That is the question. The leaders of the North are aware that the Almajirai question has become a problem and they want to shift the burden to other places where people have been able to mind their business and manage their populations well.”