₦airaland Forum

Ileke-IdI:
Can you imagine.

Old grandmama like herself. The country has gone to the dogs.

ileke-idi, she is just having fun that all

Blazay:
Go mama!
You are the bomb!
I love this woman.

she is the bomb

justise:
Lets Kill them all

Very useless people!

Simple and cost effective!

and why would you what to kill them

Ochi_Agha:
Why can't they just be considered hardworking Nigerians? We already know what region that hail from , because of their name. Just a few words of advice. Anyway, with that being said, I really enjoyed reading this story.

noted, i would change it

i just pray this project works

udezue:
Once they form their Arewa country then there will be nothing for me to worry about.

sorry udezue, but that is for you,,,,,what about them,the children hungry day and night

udezue this people, are they not human being just like u, don't they deserve to live the life you are living

Jeremiahking:
Why can't we just live in peace and unity, as the "good people,great nation" which we claim we are, lets be transparent,accountable and God fearing, lets stop violence!

i wish it is that easy, but it is not

because not every one has the fear of God

mukani2

pls can u unban Alj harem

thank you

udezue:
My solution is for them to form their own country.

but forming our country would not solve the problem

it would only mean, they are transported from nigeria to arewa republic,,,,,but the problem is still there

i think u should forget the formation of countries

jaygetta:
So, Alh. Harem do I so I now give u $10 sa'arah for providing me with this hopeless long story that I no fit read pas 2mins sef? Oh, u aint begging for alms! Sorry, o, oga me. I been think say as u sef come from Almajiri empire say u dey take style toro bara from we. . . . Again, oga me no vex o! Lol

lol, i no vex

but try read the story

udezue:
Smh

udezue, do u have any solution to the problem

Ileke-IdI:
That easy?

Free education?

no, it is not that easy, but if awolowo could do it with limited funds back then, then i believe now that nigeria is richer, they should be able to afford it.

only if this our northern leaders are serious about it

Indications have emerged that former Biafran warlord Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu may be flown abroad for treatment before the end of the week due to his deteriorating health. The management of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, (UNTH), Enugu, revealed the former Biafran warlord had been placed on life-support machine apparently to stabilise him before he would be flown to either South Africa or Egypt for intensive medical attention.

When Daily Sun visited the hospital yesterday, there was serious security presence within the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) section. The son, Emeka Ojukwu (Jnr), and a former chairman of Nnewi North Local Government Area, Mr. Azuka Okwuosa were among the few relatives and well wishers that were allowed into the ICU reception.
During a chat with journalists, the Chief Medical Director of UNTH, Dr Anthony Mbah said a team of consultants led by Prof Vincent Ike, a Consultant Cardiologist had been working on the former warlord, while disclosing that Ojukwu was gradually regaining consciousness.

According to the physician, “ Ojukwu was brought to the accident and emergency department of this hospital in an unconscious state last Sunday. The blood pressure was quite low and he was not making enough urine. Upon his arrival, all consultants started work on him immediately; diagnostic procedures were immediately administered on him. Right now, I can say that the blood pressure has stabilised and he is making enough urine. Although his level of consciousness has not improved greatly, efforts are in top gear to fly him abroad.

As a hospital, we have already provided transport oxygen and we are updating his medical certificate every moment in order to get ready for his rapid evacuation. “The opinion of the medical team working on him is that he had stroke attack and as I’m speaking, he is on a ventilator which is an artificial breathing machine just to help his breath because he was breathing excessively when he was brought here. For now, we have evidence that the oxygen saturation is okay. I also have it on good authority that the family is thinking of getting a flying ambulance to take him away,” Mba stated.

Ojukwu’s ill-health made President Goodluck Jonathan who was in Enugu last Friday to commission the Akanu Ibiam International Airport to pay him a visit at his GRA residence and wish him quick recovery.
Meanwhile, his wife, Bianca had declared that her husband’s illness was sensationalised by the media. According to her, the Eze Igbo Gburugburu was not expected to respond to treatment like a 30-year-old would. She argued that a 30-year old would respond to treatment of headache faster than an over 70-year-old man would.

She said although her husband was ill, there was no cause for panic. Ojukwu turned 77 on November 4. The Ikemba was rushed to the UNTH on the day the hospital’s members of staff were returning to work after embarking on a strike to press home their demand for better condition of service.
When newsmen visited Ojukwu’s residence yesterday, the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Chief Emeka Sebodu, who was believed to have paid a sympathy visit was seen leaving the place.
Before now, Ojukwu had traveled abroad for medical treatment and only returned to the country about a month ago.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/dec/22/national-22-12-2010-01.htm

this story shows that no matter what condition anyone is in, God is always with you,,,,,,

i think they should start by providing a form of government estate for them

then give there parent jobs eg, factory worker were unskilled labour is needed

and there children free education.

Lagos State Government, through the state’s Waste Management Authorities, LAWMA, yesterday, finally launched its new waste recycling management initiative when it unveiled two communal wastes recycling banks as part of measures to efficiently deal with the issue of over 9,000 tonnes of waste generated daily across the metropolis.
The scheme will see communities in the state partnering the agency in waste sorting in furtherance of the Waste to Wealth programme already ongoing in Lagos.
Under the new scheme, the agency is to provide 1,000 locally manufactured waste banks to be strategically located in neighbourhoods across the state where residents will submit their already sorted household wastes.
The sorted wastes are categorised into used clothes, electronic wastes, glasses, plastic materials, cans among others.
The waste banks with different compartments for sorting household wastes will be supervised by trained waste resource managers (some of them former scavengers incorporated into waste recycle scheme).
They will be expected to offer expert advice to residents and assist in further separating the wastes before onward transfer to Transfer Loading Stations.
The state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Muiz Banire while speaking at the unveiling of one of the two banks in Alaka and Eric Moore communities, Surulere, Lagos, said the method was part of the overall plan of the state to reduce the effect of climate change and global warming in the state.
Banire, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment Mrs. Titi Anibaba also explained that the new method was in line with best practices around the world to reduce Green House Emission in the state and increase the life span of the residents.
On his part the Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr. Ola Oresanya, said the idea was to bring community in partnership with government towards timely and effective management of waste in the metropolis.
Oresanya who disclosed that 1,000 of such waste recycling banks will be located in different areas including markets within the metropolis, said that the agency would exchange all forms of waste brought in by the people for money according to the kilograms weighed.
He said: “Waste management has gone away from just being government’s responsibility. Communities and the general populace must realise the need to be actively involved in achieving a cleaner and healthier environment.
“The introduction of the waste bank therefore marks a new dawn in waste management in Lagos and heralds the series of events on refuse recovery programme of Lagos State in the years ahead,”
The waste to wealth programme, it will be recalled was launched in August 1999 by the former governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, with the core objective of harnessing a new line of economic activities and wooing interested investors through the provision of enabling environment for management of resources, protection of the environment through re_use and re_distribution of discarded materials.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/12/lagos-unveils-new-waste-recycling-scheme/

[size=14pt]Selling newspapers has brought us fame – Blind twins[/size]



From the age of 14, Taiwo and Kehinde Popoola took interest in newspapers. Whenever they came across a newspaper in their rural Iresi community of Boluwaduro Local Government Area of Osun State, they would read it thoroughly and file it for reference purpose. Although they took it as a hobby, little did the twins know that they were laying the foundation for their future means of livelihood and road to fame.


The 40-year-old twins are a symbol of perseverance, dedication, hard work and integrity – having collectively come through thick and thin. Taiwo and Kehinde are blind yet they are one of the leading newspaper agents in Osun.


Although they only have secondary school education, these twins recall historical dates and events with ease.


They are talented singers and entertainers, who hold the newspaper reading public in Orita-Gbaemu and Oke-Fia areas of Osogbo spellbound with their melodious songs. Most times, they used their songs to entertain customers when newspapers did not arrive on time from Lagos. Drumming on a wooden table, they would sing songs in praise of Nigeria, twins, albinos, among others. They also sing songs to condemn corruption, avarice and slothfulness. Taiwo is a fan of Juju music maestro, King Sunny Ade, while Kehinde is a fan of Fuji music legend, Kollington Ayinla.


Recalling how they became vendors, Taiwo said, “We started as part-time vendors in Osogbo in 1984 when we were class one students of Ifeoluwa Grammar School, Ilesa Road, Osogbo. By 5am we would take our supply from the late Baba Asorire or Baba Akintayo and go to our school area to sell till 7.30am. When we began as vendors, we ceased to ask for money from our parents because the four kobo commission, which we made as profit on each newspaper, was enough to take care of our school fees. A newspaper was sold for 20 kobo then.


“The commission we got was enough to pay our school fees. Every morning we sold 30 copies each. We became full-time vendors in 1989 after we completed our secondary school education. On October 1, 1995, we became newspaper agents. We now have 10 vendors working for us.”


On how they cope with customers, who may want to capitalise on their disability to cheat them, Kehinde said, “We have good people around us to check the tendency of being cheated by our customers. We have sought medical help at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo. The Minister of State for Agriculture, Alhaji Adewale Awodele, took us to the National Hospital, Abuja, for treatment. We have also gone to hospitals in Ekiti; we trust God to restore our sight. The minister still visits us to read newspapers when he is in Osogbo; he is our big friend. Our eye problem is hereditary.”


Kehinde said he made a foray into politics in 2003 when he contested as the chairman, Boluwaduro Local Government Council, on the platform of United Nigeria Peoples Party. Although he alleged that the election was rigged, Kehinde said his emergence as third best candidate was an indication that selling newspapers had made them popular.


The twins said their happiest days were when their newspapers sold out. Kehinde said, ”Our happiest days included when Osun State was created on August 27, 1991. We sold out our papers the next day. We also sold out our stock during the Gulf War. We sold out when Mr. Rauf Aregbesola became the governor. During his reign, the first Executive Governor of Osun State, Chief Isiaka Adeleke, once told his driver to take me home in his official car for me to go and bring him a particular newspaper.”


They said their saddest days were mostly during the military regimes when some of their newspapers were seized by security agents.


Born on November 25, 1970, the twins are currently in the studios, where they are putting finishing touches to their single, which is done in praise of twins.


The twins are married and have children. They also have another set of female twins in their family.

THE issue of Almajiri, a Hausa word meaning immigrant children in search of Qu’ranic education, has become a source of worry to the northern leaders who have, belatedly though, realised the immense socio-economic and political problems inherent in it.

The children are sent out early in life to seek Islamic knowledge outside their environment. They are placed under Islamic teachers known simply as Mallams under whom they are supposed to learn the rudiments of the religion.

In most cases, and due to the high level of poverty and the large number of children the Mallams have to cater for, they are often not able to take adequate care of the children; thus, they are sent out to search for their livelihood.

However, most of the boys who form the bulk of the Almajiri are not without dreams of their own. Some of them have the vision of becoming engineers, doctors, and pilots and so on. Unfortunately, greater percentage of these dreams or visions always become ineffectual, because the necessary socio-economic conditions that could make the dream become realiseable are lacking. Therefore, these boys resign to fate as they can not ameliorate there socio-economic situations.

One of such boys is Idris Mohammed who, along with thousands of his likes in the northern part of the country do not have the ability to become productive and acceptable members of their various communities because they do not have the opportunity of going to the conventional school or combining Qu’ranic education with western one just as the children of the rich. Due to lack of empowerment which education imbues on an individual, and as a result of lack of refined lifestyle, they take to crummy lifestyle and become societal deviants.

As a result of their way of life, they terrorise unsuspecting motorists, passers-by and even residents of Kaduna metropolis and its environs as a means of eking out a living.

Some of them take the risk of crossing the roads without caution in a bid to beg for arms. They stay out late in the night and in the chilling cold.

At the age of six, Yusuf Haruna walks the streets of Kaduna as one of the urchins against his will. His dream in life has been to become an engineer when he grows up. But that dream has become a mirage; more so when he does not know where his parents are?

The case of a 10-year-old Usman Sani, who said he wished to be a soldier to fight for his country, is different. He knows where his parents are, even though he claimed that his parents had refused to send him to school to enable him to acquire western education.


He said: "My parents refused to enroll me in a conventional school. Instead, they sent me all the way from Kano to Kaduna to acquire Qu’ranic education."

Sani has the interest to attend a conventional school. That may not be easily feasible since, he said, he would need to obtain the permission of his Islamic teacher first. This is the story of millions of Nigerian children of northern origin who roam the streets everyday with a plate in hand begging for what to eat instead of being in school.


Newsextra

learnt that about five million out of the over 9.5 million children who are forced to become Almajiri in the country are from the north-western part of the country comprising states like Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa and Kaduna states that lay much emphasis on Qu’ranic education in a bid to make their children committed Muslims.
Incidentally, this same region has produced most of the country’s leaders but accounts for the highest number of Almajiri in the country. For instance, the late Murtala Mohammed (Kano), Shehu Aliyu Shagari (Sokoto), Mohammadu Buhari (Katsina), Sani Abacha (Kano) and Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (Katsina) have presided over the affairs of the country since independence.

Amusingly, 9.5 million of the Almajiri in the country, according to Vice-President Namadi Sambo, are located in the north which has produced majority of the country’s leaders.

Investigations revealed that, apart from the late Gen. Hassan Katsina who fought hard to ensure that the Almajiri issue in the north was addressed; none of the other leaders from the region initiated any favourable policies to address or seek solution to the social problem.

Just recently, Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo announced that the Federal Government was planning to build 100 schools across the country to cater for the education of these Almajiri who are scattered across the country.

According to him, 31 of such schools are to be established by government before the end of March, 2011 and 100 schools by the end of September 2011. What this translates into is that government will be establishing a single school for 60,000 children.

Many believe that this is just one of the political statements that Nigerian politicians are known for, even as it questions the possibility of one school accommodating 60,000 children when an institution like the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria which is the largest university in the country has a student population of about 40,000 yet still the space is not adequate and conducive enough teaching and learning.

The Vice-President disclosed this while launching a new educational policy to integrate the traditional Tsangaya schools into the conventional educational system.

The Vice-President said: "I can state without any equivocation that the resolve of this government to sustain this initiative is not only strong, but also forward-looking…" Ironically, children under the age of 15 years who are engaged in this practice are mainly from the Muslim-dominated part of the country.

Islamic scholars have argued that it is against the Islamic religion to put children through such hardship. It was gathered that when the former governor of the old Northern-Western Region, the late Maj. Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina was alive, he relentlessly waged war against the menace, even though he did not achieve much.

Fascinatingly, these children who form the bulk of the Almajiri that roam the streets of northern Nigeria are not in schools even though they are children of school age. It is also believed that parents of these children prefer sending them to　Islamic teachers (Mallams), who are almost strangers to them.

However, the youth have often become machineries in the hands of religious zealots as they are often used in burning down places of worship during violence in the north, a situation that has been of great concern to present day leaders in the region.

The street urchins are always ready tools during sectarian crises instigated by elements that benefit from situations of crisis. They are used to destroy places of worship,　lives and property. As a result of their way of life, many dread as well as loath seeing them.

The patterns of operation of these boys do catch unawares, as they wonder how they survive the harsh conditions of the weather to which they are exposed on daily basis.

Looking well above their ages, filthy and unkempt, they meander in-between moving vehicles begging for arms and, in most cases, they stay out in the chilling cold till late in the evening searching for what to eat. Newsextra gathered that any money made by them goes to the Mallams under whose custody they are supposed to learn the Quaran while they are free to eat whatever cooked food they get while they are out on the streets.

On a daily basis, they moved from street to street, house to house in clusters and with bowls in hands singing and begging for arms. Sometimes, they become complete nuisance to the public because of lack of hygiene. After what seems to be a daily routine, they make returns to their Mallams (Islamic teachers).

Leaders of the region are beginning to express concern over the rising cases of child beggars and this has compelled the elite and Islamic leaders to look inwards on how to find a lasting solution to a system that has refused to die.

Even though the governors of the region have constantly expressed disgust over the menace and bad image it creates for the region, many believe that no concrete step has been taken by them to find a lasting solution to the incidence.

The Kaduna State government appears to be the only government in the region that has taken some steps to address the issue and ensure that the children get some form of western education. During the Makarfi regime, a school was established for them under the pet project of his wife. While he presided over the affairs of Kaduna, Vice-President Sambo told the world that the state government was building a boarding primary school for the children in Zaria.

As at the time of this report, the school which was supposed to have taken off in September, 2009 was yet to take off. He had said then that his administration was concerned about the rising cases of Almajiri in the state and would embark on a pilot project that would take the immigrant children off the streets.

According to him, the state will integrate western education with that of the traditional Qu’ranic study by the Almajiri which we believe is the only antidote to finding a lasting solution　to　the menace of the Almajiri in the Northern part of the country.

He said: "What we have decided is that we have to take those children out of the streets. We will construct boarding primary schools." But the decision came under serious criticism from Islamic scholars who believed that the project was just one of the political gimmicks of government. They believed that most of the children go out cap-in-hand because of the high poverty rate in the region, stressing that if government at all levels were never paid lip service to the issue, there would be no cause for cause to worry over the matter, as "parents would have adopted the old traditional way of assisting the Almajiri by contributing to the upkeep of their lads."

In an interview earlier in the year, the Executive Chairman of Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Bashir Balarabe, was quoted as saying that the introduction of the boarding school for the Almajiri was aimed at integrating them　into the UBE scheme, adding that about one quarter of the total children in Kaduna State are Almajiri who roam the streets.

He said: "This is very important because the Universal Basic Education programme is aimed at ensuring that each school-age children get access to basic education. The number of Almajiri is very large. About one quarter of the total population of our children in Kaduna State are Almajiri and are roaming the streets. They may not be our children. They may be children from other states because Kaduna is A very central place, being the capital of the north. You find many of them coming from other states to settle here. The name of the school is By Lingual Boarding Primary School for Almajiri. "So, if a large segment of the children we have in the society are not actually captured in the UBE, then it is not actually achieving the desired result. It has to be at least 90 per cent to achieve its aim. So, if that chunk of children is out of the UBE programme, then something is wrong.

"That is why the government is establishing the boarding primary school in order to capture the Almajiri. They will learn the Islamic or Qur’an recitation and also the western form of education because teachers and instructional materials will be provided for their use."

Available reports have it that the Sultan of Sokoto and　President-General of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Sa’ad Abubakar III is not happy with the development and has expressed grave reservation on the Almajiri system, even as he urged governments at all levels in the region to partner with Islamic organisations to halt the menace.

The Sultan is said to have suggested a five-year action plan to rehabilitate, reposition and expand the coverage of schools under the management of the Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI). He was also quoted as saying that "the other area which calls for our attention in the education sector is facilitating the emergence of an integrated educational school system which accords our children the requisite Islamic knowledge as well as a descent conventional education."

Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu does not believe that the practice should be associated with Islam and has therefore disparaged the practice.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting on health in Kaduna last year, the Chief Servant of Niger State said: "I challenge anybody who tells me that some of the things that we do are religious. No! We use religion to cover certain cultural practices."

He was quick to link the practice with the low level of development in the north, even as he accused political leaders from the region of being responsible for the under-developed state of the North. While expressing regrets that despite northern leaders having the opportunities to develop their region while occupying political positions at the federal level for several years, they failed to use such advantages, particularly in the areas of ensuring that nobody begs in the region in the name of religion. "However, we must realise that all of us in leadership positions must have integrity, character, the boldness and courage to be able to make significant and positive impact on the lives of our people. We believe that the attitude of some parents in our states is tantamount to a breach of the fundamental human rights of our children."

Speaking in during another forum organised by the Niger State community at the Ahmadu Bello University last year, Aliyu said the time has come when the north must discourage the system, pointing out that the people of the north must do away with the issue of begging in the name of religion. He added that "we need to discourage the ‘ranka ya dade’ syndrome which abuses and dehumanises the people by offering them stipends out of the often stolen public wealth. It also encourages laziness while some of us go about in arrogance."

He disclosed that an average poverty rate of 71 per cent exists in the region, stressing that "we need to address the embarrassing Almajiri phenomenon in our states; we need to question what appears as the Islamisation of poverty.

Mobinga:

See who's talking You?
How many lives have they taken? How many? It is better for 3 men to die than the entire nation.

well

violent:
what's the National Assembly doing to stop future attacks?. . why is everyone keeping quiet on a disturbing issue like this?

and that is the question, some of us are just looking at kidnapping, mend etc

i mean they killed osisi with 1 month, why can they even arrest this nomadic people

they are giving us northerners bad names

Mobinga:
This man doesn't need to die. These are the people who need to

1 - General Olusegun Obasanjo
2 - Ibrahim Babangida
3 - Ciroma

guy no one needs to die, why don't u leave that for God to judge

philip0906:
whats with d terrorist language?

why na

Ochi_Agha:
Praise the Lord! We will keep on praying for you our dear leader. This is the power of prayer. Chineke will see you through.

Amen

seriously, i really pray he gets better

ojukwu, we the people of the SE need you

if Gej has not done anything for past 9-10 months in office, why do we support him

until jonathan tells us what he has done that is positive to this nation, i do not think he should get peoples vote

mukina2,

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?action=profile;u=608432

this user is not nigerian, he is biafran so what is he doing on nairaland

he wants to form biafraland with chyz, udezue and co, and making a mockery of this site to be tribal, when he is a new user(enivoer=unliver) started with tribalism,



his mission his clear,,,,,isn't it

mukina2

pls, this problem started with Akin-egba and look at this site now,,,,full of tribal animals

pls let them address the issue,,,,,ileke-idi was not a tribalist but look at it now

jason was not a tribalist but look at it now

mukina, so it begins again

banning them would not solve the problem

let them discuss there differences