The Nasarawa State Government on Sunday evacuated 788 Quranic education pupils (Almajiri) to their states of origin to guard against further spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Speaking at the flag off of the exercise in Lafia, Gov. Abdullahi Sule said the evacuation was a decision reached by governors of the 19 northern states.
Sule noted that the move was to ensure that the parents of the children took proper care them, adding that the government did it in good faith.
He said that the evacuation would be in phases, with the first phase to states currently not considered high risks of the pandemic.
The governor said that before now, the Almajiri system had posed a serious problem, adding that the coronavirus pandemic had further made it more dangerous.
“Most of them engage in street begging and are vulnerable to contracting the virus when they receive alms from persons whose status is positive.
“Their teachers cannot keep them at home during this lockdown as they lack the capacity to feed the pupils under them,” Sule said.
The governor explained that all the children were given some stipends to buy some food while on transit.
He said that they were being conveyed in very comfortable civilian buses under the supervision of state officials,who would hand them over to the officials of their respective states on arrival.
Also, Halima Jabiru, the state’s Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, said that the first batch of the children would be transported to Plateau, Kaduna, Gombe, Taraba and Jigawa states.
She said that consultation was ongoing to work out modalities for the next phase of evacuation.