A former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has faulted northern governors over what he described as the shoddy way they handled the repatriation of Almajirai to their home states.
Okorocha said instead of humiliating the Almajirai, the governors, as well as the rich in the region, should have transformed them through education.

He said poverty and hunger were the real problems and not the Almajirinci system as being viewed by the regional governors.
The former governor, now a senator, said this on Tuesday.

According to him, many of the governors and other prominent Northern elite today, were products of the Almajirinci system, adding that all the governor needed to do was to transform them educationally.

He cited his Rochas Foundation as an example of how the challenge could be handled.

He said his foundation built schools in Kano, Yola, Zaria and Sokoto where Almajirai and other less privileged children were educated and taken care of free of charge.

Okorocha said, “These children (Almajirai) need help; educate them and give them jobs. Who knows, one of them could be a president tomorrow.

“The governors and other rich individuals should help transform the Almajirinci system of Islamic education instead of subjecting them to humiliation. Many of our prominent people now were once Almajirai.
“Hunger and poverty are the problems.

The governors should look at that and help resolve it. The Almajirai are not the problem.
“Some of us have materials that we don’t need, give such things to the Almajirai and help improve their lives. We all have children.”

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Tackle poverty, not Almajirai, Okorocha tells northern govs.