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ACADEMIA Letters Everywhere was Home until Now: Understanding the Rejection and Repatriation of the Almajiris amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic in Northern Nigeria Daniel Egerson Ruth Omu-Ebikaboere One of the fundamental principles of Islam is the quest for knowledge and the Quran stresses that the true lovers of the Almighty are those who are knowledgeable (Maigari, 2017). The term Almajiri was gotten from the Arabic word “Al-Muhajirun” meaning one that migrates from home seeking Islamic knowledge. The Almajiri is often used to refer to a group of children who in their quest for Islamic education left their homes; this situation is mostly predominant in northern Nigeria (Akintunde, Chen, and Di, 2020). The community is encouraged to give alms to the almajiris who came from far away; in return, the Almajiris are taught and encouraged to be involved in community service by providing services such as laundry, weaving, cobbling, gardening, etc. There is no current data as to the total population of almajiris in Nigeria, however, reports from studies conducted to give us an idea of the population of almajiris in Nigeria. For instance, Adeniyi-Egbeola (2018) opined that almajiri children constitute 70% of street children in Nigeria. In 2014, UNICEF made a report with a record of 9.5 million Almajiri children in Nigeria; this brings them to a total of 72% of out-of-school children in the country (Johnson, 2019). Nigeria has about 13.5 – 15 million children who are out of school and the majority of them are found in the northern region. Ibeh (2019) reported that Kano State Governor, Governor Ganduje claimed that 90% of Almajiri in Kano roaming the streets are foreigners. He went further to implement the free education scheme in a bid to end the almajiri system. He believed that education is a vital tool to end unemployment. The World Health Organisation (2020), on the 11th of March 2020, made a pronounceAcademia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Daniel Egerson, egersondaniel@gmail.com Citation: Egerson, D., Omu-Ebikaboere, R. (2021). Everywhere was Home until Now: Understanding the Rejection and Repatriation of the Almajiris amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic in Northern Nigeria. Academia Letters, Article 1815. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1815. 1 ment declaring covid-19 a global pandemic. This came two weeks after Nigeria’s index case was first confirmed 27th of February, 2020. In northern Nigeria, index cases were discovered in Abuja and Bauchi consecutively on the 24th of March, 2020. Kaduna state was next, followed by Kastina, Kano, Gombe, Sokoto, Yobe, Plateau, and Nasarawa states. At this period, there were no covid-19 testing centers in the entire northern region except one in Abuja (NCDC, 2020). During the heat of the pandemic in Nigeria, while the lockdown measure prevented free movement in the south, east and western parts of the country, it allowed for the forceful movement of targeted persons in the north. Upon the declaration of the lockdown nationwide, the almajiris were ordered to go back home as they were no longer welcome in these states where they’ve been residents. Being children, they became vulnerable as they lacked shelter, were at risk of covid-19 due to exposure and risk of starvation. What is more challenging is the lack of adequate information on the number of repatriated almajiris (Akintunde, Chen, and Di, 2020). Although there is a paucity of information on displaced almajiris as there is no reporting system as at 13th August 2020, permutations can be made from some available data to determine the population of displaced almajiris. Available online data shows that Kano state prepared 178,000 almajiris for repatriation to their families (Murtala and Bolaji, 2020). Reports indicated that 3,452 children were sent back to different states twice; and as of May 3rd, 2020, the Nasarawa state government reported to have repatriated 1,100 out of the 23,500 displaced children to various states (Shakyaa, 2020); while Gombe state returned 700 almajiris to several states out of the 11,700 almajiris that were accounted for (Michael, 2020). Just as several states made attempts in repatriating these children, others were preoccupied with protecting their territory from them especially as the covid-19 virus continued to spread in geometric proportion. Bauchi and Kaduna state governors cried out as the majority of their covid-19 cases were almajiri children (Amanambu, 2020). Following this stigmatization, other states, for fear of the rise of the virus in their states rejected the children from gaining entrance. For instance, it was gathered that a truckload of almajiris was intercepted by security operatives in Abia and Akwa Ibom state (Ugbor, 2020). Also, Taraba, Ondo, Osun, Lagos, Delta, and the Southern and Middle Belt leaders were some of the states that either rejected or evacuated the almajiri children (Fulani, 2020; Dayo, Jimitota, Ahon, Yakubu and Ajayi, 2020). Even though the declared lockdown was done to combat the covid-19 pandemic, it clearly had a negative effect on the economy and mostly affected vulnerable people in the country. In the face of the pandemic, the Quranic schools were shut and could not serve as a source of shelter for the almajiri children, thus they became unsheltered. Following their displacement, Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Daniel Egerson, egersondaniel@gmail.com Citation: Egerson, D., Omu-Ebikaboere, R. (2021). Everywhere was Home until Now: Understanding the Rejection and Repatriation of the Almajiris amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic in Northern Nigeria. Academia Letters, Article 1815. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1815. 2 there is no data to support the almajiri children, hence, they are missing and unaccounted for (Akintunde, Chen, and Di, 2020). Akhaine, Adewale, Danjuma, Idris, and Sobechi (2020) opined that the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) made a decision to repatriate the almajiri children back to their states or parents. Not only did they make the decision, Kano state government immediately embarked on the project by repatriating them to Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, and other states (Amanambu, 2020). This act is in direct opposition to the 1999 constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which states that “the state shall secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the federation” (Amanambu, 2020). Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje justified actions stating that; “We agreed at the forum that all Almajiris should be moved to their states of origin. This is why we are sending, in good faith and procedures, all Almajiris that are not from Kano State to their respective states of origin”. (Shuaibu, 2020). He further affirmed that the state was not only sending out but receiving her share of Almajiris from other states. Nwachukwu (2019) stated that President Buhari while having an interview session on 22nd July 2015 with Caroline Baker of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) said, “I hope you have a copy of the election results. The constituents, for example, that gave me 97% (of the vote) cannot, in all honesty, be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me 5% (sic)”. Furthermore, after the general elections of 2015 which brought President Buhari to power, Rabiu Kwankwaso an Islamic leader in Nigeria and a very strong politician boasted that the votes of the almajiris have been used to kick former President Goodluck Jonathan out of Aso Rock (Tijani, 2015). According to Mansur (2018), there are five million almajiris in Kano state; this implies that following Kwankwaso’s boast, the 1.9 million votes that brought President Buhari to power as declared by INEC was gotten from the almajiris (Amanambu, 2020). The forceful ejection and return migration of the Almajiris to their states from Kano state did not go as planned. There were some intervening variables that also triggered displacements to unplanned locations even to the eastern and southern parts of the country. In Abia and Akwa Ibom states security agents intercepted a truckload of Almajiris (Ugbor, 2020). The leaders of the Southern and Middle Belt Forum (SMBF) also urged citizens of the states to be vigilant and avert the spread of the Coronavirus by Northern elements through the almajiris. In virtually every state of the country, these children have been rejected, ejected, and stigmatized. The deportation of these children across the country has in itself defeated the fight against the pandemic. The game being played by politicians over the lives of vulnerable children needs to stop. Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Daniel Egerson, egersondaniel@gmail.com Citation: Egerson, D., Omu-Ebikaboere, R. (2021). Everywhere was Home until Now: Understanding the Rejection and Repatriation of the Almajiris amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic in Northern Nigeria. Academia Letters, Article 1815. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1815. 3 The Almajiris being regarded as a priority risk during the pandemic by all states especially by the northern governors were however in the past, adorned a valuable asset in the period of elections under a heinous use by the same politicians. According to Amanambu (2020), it is cruel to use these children as a force to get to the presidential villa only to abandon them in the face of a challenge. As part of the measures put in place, to reduce hunger during the period of lockdown across the states of the nation, palliatives were rolled out by the Federal government of Nigeria using the National Social Register to identify poor and vulnerable households. Over four million households were selected from the northern region. Regardless, the vulnerable Almajiris were excluded. Section 41 subsection (1) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as provided that every citizen is entitled to free movement: and Section 42 subsections (1) and (2) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which also forbids any subjection of persons on the grounds of the identity. The repatriation of these children is therefore an anomaly and is not consistent with the provision of the constitution. It is also a violation of their human rights and their right to be free from discrimination. While we desire that black lives should matter in a foreign land, it is important to make it essential as well amongst the blacks. Addressing the concerns of the Almajri children requires good. The social register should be expanded to include the welfare of the Almajiris with a proper accountability process enforced to mitigate corruption. Also, the Northern Governors Forum should make adequate provision for shelter for all Almajiris in the region, and where it becomes necessary to return these children to places of origin, the child protection, and safeguarding principles must be observed. References Akhaine, Adewale, Danjuma, Idris and Sobechi (2020). Northern governors begin expulsion of Almajiris over coronavirus. https://guardian.ng/news Akintunde, T.Y., Chen, S. and Di, Q. (2020). Public health implication of displacement of Almajiri children in specific states of Northern Nigeria amidst COVID-19 pandemic. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 14, 100544 Al-Amin, B. (2019) The Almajiri phenomenon in Northern Nigeria and the burden on society. Being a paper presented at the Women in Da฀awah (WID) 14th Annual National Conference in Kaduna on 22nd June, 2019. https://www.dailytrust.com.ng. Amanambu, U. E. (2020). Almajiri Islamic Practices and the Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria: Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Daniel Egerson, egersondaniel@gmail.com Citation: Egerson, D., Omu-Ebikaboere, R. (2021). Everywhere was Home until Now: Understanding the Rejection and Repatriation of the Almajiris amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic in Northern Nigeria. Academia Letters, Article 1815. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1815. 4 Matters Arising. AMAMIHE: Journal of Applied Philosophy. Vol. 18. No. 3: 88-106. ISSN: 1597-0779. Dayo, J., Jimitota, O., Ahon, F., Yakubu, D. and Ajayi, O. (2020). Nigeria: Covid-19 - Southern, M-Belt leaders Raise Alarm Over Invasion by Almajirai https://www.vanguardngr. com. Accessed 6/8/2020 Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999). Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as Amended. Fulani, I. D. (2020). Taraba rejects almajiris transferred from Nasarawa. https://guardian. ng/news. 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Nigeria: Kano to evacuate 251,000 Almajiris as number of COVID-19 victims rises. [accessed August 6th, 2020] https://allafrica.com/stories/ 202004210209.html. Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, (2020). Update of COVID-19. https://ncdc.gov. ng Accessed August, 13th 2020. Shakyaa, M. (2020). Nasarawa state returns over 1000 Almajiri children to home states. ScanNews Niger; [accessed August 6, 2020] Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Daniel Egerson, egersondaniel@gmail.com Citation: Egerson, D., Omu-Ebikaboere, R. (2021). Everywhere was Home until Now: Understanding the Rejection and Repatriation of the Almajiris amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic in Northern Nigeria. Academia Letters, Article 1815. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1815. 5 Shuaibu I., 2020. Nigeria: Gaduje- Repatriation of Almajrai Collective Decision of Northern Ugbor, E. (2020). Anxiety in Abia, as security agents intercept truckload of Almajiris from North. https://www.vanguardngr.com. Accessed 6th August, 2020 World Health Organisation. (2020). Corona virus. https://www.covid19.who.int. (Accessed 13th August 2020). World Health Organization (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 51. Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Daniel Egerson, egersondaniel@gmail.com Citation: Egerson, D., Omu-Ebikaboere, R. (2021). Everywhere was Home until Now: Understanding the Rejection and Repatriation of the Almajiris amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic in Northern Nigeria. Academia Letters, Article 1815. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1815. 6