…Say’s all Almajiri ‘ll enjoy free compulsory education
By Gabriel Udeh, Kaduna.
Governor of kano state Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has said that, with the highest population in Nigeria, Kano is vulnerable but, his government is working to turn the population from being liability to an asset.He said his government has mapped out plans to integrate Almajiri children, who constitute the majority of the out of school population, into the free, compulsory education policy of the state, adding that, most of the Almajiri children were not from Kano.Governor Ganduje stated this in Kaduna on Wednesday while declaring opened, a three days retreat for executive council members, Permanent Secretaries and top government functionaries open.According to the Governor, “Two services are very key to this administration; one education and second the provision of healthcare services to our people. These two are the major indicators between developed and developing countries, aside the economy. So, we are taking these two sectors very seriously.
“Concerning the education sector, we have already made a pronouncement that, education from now would be free and compulsory from basic to secondary education. Therefore, we need to work very hard and make very solid foundation to ensure that we achieve this laudable objective.
“Kano State being the most populous state in the federation, we are vulnerable as we have always said. Our population could be an asset or liability. And all we want to do is make our population an asset.
“There are certain countries in the world that do not have a drop of oil, yet they are among the strongest economies in the world. So, by developing this aspect of education, we are taking Kano State to the next level and we are taking advantage of our population.
“So, this issue of out of school children is a very serious issue in Kano State and in Nigeria. But Kano State, being our state, our concern is to see how we can address this problem.

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