Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II and the Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Thursday called on government at all levels to let the course of justice be served on irresponsible fathers of almajiri children roaming the streets for alms.
Almajiri is a social menace that commonly obtains in the northern part of Nigeria where parents leave their young children at the mercy of some scholars under the guise of searching for Quranic knowledge.
At several fora, prominent northern leaders have criticised the trend, saying it does not represent Islam.
And speaking at a conference on Repositioning Muslim Family for National Development organised by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) in conjunction with Future Assured, the emir said punishment should be meted to the parents and not the children.
“Do you just marry and have children without any responsibilities? The reason Allah sent His Prophets is that there should be justice in this world, justice in our relationship with our maker and in our relationship with our fellow human beings.
“Justice means that everyone is given his rights. If a man takes the privilege of being the head of the family, he takes the responsibilities of being the provider of the family. You cannot take that privilege and abandon the responsibilities.
“Is it a fact that a father has the right to force his daughter into a loveless marriage, that you have the rights to batter you wife, you have the right to have children and push them to the streets to beg, that when you divorced your wife, you ask her and her children to pack and go back to her father’s house and that is the end?
“I can spend 100 years saying that it is wrong and un-Islamic for a man to beat his wife, but it is the governor and the state House of Assembly that should pass the law, it is the courts and the police that will make sure that the woman gets justice. The scholars and emirs cannot do that.
“It is only the governors who can pass the laws to say that when a man divorces his wife, it is his responsibilities to provide for the children, it is the courts and security system that will enforce.
“So, the problem is, these groups of human beings are those who will stand to answer to Allah if there is no justice. The traditional and religious leaders have an obligation to ask for justice, but those with the political powers have an obligation to put in place the processes that will make sure that these justices are complied with,” he said.
The emir also called for enactment of laws by state governments to tackle injustices in marriages.
He said the Holy Qur’an does not support the irresponsibility being witnessed in marriages and attitude of parents forcing their children into loveless marriage.
“Every day, wives are complaining about their husbands who claim their rights but abandon their responsibilities of marriage, women being divorced with their husbands not taking care of the children and those children ending up on the streets, drugs, political thuggery, violent extremism,” he said.
He recalled how in2000, 12 states in the North adopted the Shari’ah laws without any need, to reform the laws outside of the Muslim Criminal Law.
“No law that talks about consent in marriage, the rights of wives and husbands, domestic violence, rights of women divorced, the responsibilities of husbands under divorce situations, if a child is found on the streets, is the father that is responsible and can’t the state hold him accountable? These are Shari’ah and they are all more important than cutting off the hand of a thief,” he said.
The emir said he and the Sultan of Sokoto had packaged a set of laws to address some challenges of family system in the country, and would be submitted to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state for onward transmission to the state House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
Ooni
Also speaking, the Ooni of Ife Oba Ogunwusi, advocated for digital solutions that can make parents more responsible for their children.
“There is a problem in our country and we should face it. Enough of us talking and talking, we should all join hands to walk the talk.
“The problem of almajiri is not just a problem of a particular section of this country; it is a problem of each and every one of us.
“Like the Emir of Kano said, we shouldn’t blame them (almajiri), we should blame those that brought them to this world. It is very important we look at other ways and means of how to better the lot of their lives.
“We need to promulgate laws that will force fathers to be very responsible for their children. We can even link it to BVN. Today, everything is digitalised, we have to link children to those irresponsible fathers, producing children that are becoming menace to the society.
“It is time they take responsibility for their actions, if you cannot confiscate their assets, confiscate their bank accounts, make life miserable for them, make life unpalatable for them so that they will be very serious and take issue of birth control seriously,” he said.
Buhari
Addressing the gathering, President Muhammadu Buhari advised Christian and Muslim leaders and preachers in the country to give more attention to issues that strengthen the family, and build society, describing them as “custodians of our values and of social ideals.”
“In this endeavour, our religious leaders and organisations are most important catalyst. They are the custodians of our values and of our social ideals. It is therefore, commendable that the Nigerian Supreme Council in collaboration with the Future Assured Initiative has risen up to this challenge.
“I, however, wish to call on all our religious leaders and organisations, both Christian and Muslim, to follow suit by redirecting important elements of their preaching and teachings on family issues with a view to broadening the sensitization of people at the grassroots level,” he said.
The president said the government would also put in more effort at ensuring economic support and empowering family members for more stability.
“We have been conscious of the havoc poverty is wreaking on the family. We therefore believe that poverty alleviation is central to safeguarding the integrity of our families.
“Our administration introduced a number of economic empowerment and poverty alleviation schemes. Some of these directly impact on families while others have indirect effect on families through their multiplier effects.
“The first, and most robust programme, is the Social Investment Programme, which serves as a very broad framework for availing Nigerian families at the grassroots level different forms of economic support,” he said.
He said many homes had benefitted from the Conditional Cash Transfer, while trader-moni and market-moni schemes had also been impactful.
“The school feeding programme has assisted immensely in supporting poor Nigerian families in getting their children enrolled and sustained in school,” he said.
On flagging-off of marriage counselling projects across the country, the president said the search for national rebirth, efforts at fighting corruption, indiscipline and struggle for attitudinal change must all begin from the family unit.
“While we appreciate the significant role of the mass media and other public enlightenment channels and outfits in propagating and promoting positive values, we just have to acknowledge the fact that all these build, after all, upon the foundations that must have been laid down at home,” Buhari said. .
He said most of the challenges affecting the family fall within the mandates and jurisdictions of the state governments, urging the governments to rise to the challenges and do their full parts in the effort for social regeneration.
The president commended His Eminence, Sultan of Sokoto, Sultan Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar and Future Assured Initiative, under the leadership of the First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, for the projects on marriage and family.
Senate president, NGF
Also at the event held at the Conference Centre of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, President of the Senate Ahmed Lawan said the Universal Basic Education (UBE) law passed in 2004 encompasses the responsibility of parents to take care of their children.
He said there was the need for traditional rulers and religious leaders not to back governors in their anti-people programmes.
“Our governors can introduce anything but I can bet with my life that the success of whatever they will introduce will be severely limited if the religious and traditional rulers do not support them all the way,” he said.
Also speaking, chairman of Northern Governors Forum and governor of Plateau state, Mr Simon Bako Lalong said governors were waiting to get the buy-in of the traditional rulers and clerics on the almajiri issue.
He said decisions arrived at by participants at the conference would be part of what would be discussed at a two-day summit for governors in Kaduna to address the almajiri problem.
Hajiya Buhari
In her remarks, Hajiya Buhari said the project would identify critical marriage challenges and suggest relevant instruments for addressing them, which include sensitizing relevant stakeholders on their responsibilities.
“We have succeeded in assembling an array of Islamic scholars to further deliberate on these matters, with the belief that they will do justice to the issues,” she said.
