The Kaduna state government says its Task Force enforcing Covid-19 related regulations rescued almajiri children from Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi’s residence for violating the state’s school closure regulations, land use act and policy of repatriation of almajiri to their states.
Special Adviser to Kaduna state Governor, Muyiwa Adekeye, said in a statement on Friday that 160 almajiri children were rescued from unauthorised locations on Wednesday, adding that some of them were from 13 states in Nigeria, while some were from Benin Republic, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic.
Adekeye said the children were being profiled, documented and subjected to health checks, including tests for Covid-19 infections, after which they would be transported to their states of origin and handed over to the relevant officials.
He said since March 2020 when Northern Governors Forum decided to jointly end the abuses associated with the Almajiri system, the state government had repatriated 31,092 almajiri children to their states of origin
