Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN) has called on the Northern Governors Forum to adopt the Almajiri issue as priority on its agenda.
To this end, the association also called on the members of the forum to support the implementation of programmes that will gradually take the children off the streets.
FOMWAN in a communiqué issued at the end of its 34th annual convention held between 19th and 22nd September in Kastina, Kastina state, also advocated stiffer penalty for producers and peddlers of dangerous drugs and substances in the country.
The communiqué, which was co-signed by the FOMWAN’s National Amirah, Hajiya Halimah Jibril and Public Relations Officer (PRO), Dr Sumaye Fadimatu Hamza, read: “We call on the Northern Governors Forum to adopt the Almajiri issue as priority on its agenda and support the implementation of programmes in their states that will gradually take the children off the streets.
“FOMWAN also advocates for stiffer penalty for producers, smugglers, and peddlers of dangerous drugs/substances that destroy our youth and vibrant populations’’.
The association also called on government at all levels and educational institutions to protect girls by invoking the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP), and other existing laws on rape and sexual abuse by
punishing the offenders.
Also, FOMWAN called on the parents to break silence by reporting rapists to the appropriate authorities for prosecution.
On climate change, the association urged the traditional rulers to mobile their subjects to revive the annual tree planting exercise.
“Traditional rulers in the country should mobilize their communities to revive the tradition of annual Tree Planting exercise to counter the effect of desert encroachment, and government at all levels to support by providing the seedlings’’, the communiqué read.
