At the University of Abuja, a fabric of the course matter of Sociology 201 (SOC 201) is the maxim that the family unit is a microcosm of the larger society. Thus, if the family unit is broken down, the larger society fares terribly indeed. Which is why it was disturbing to read in the newspaper that a father withdrew two of his male children from school at Jigawa state and journeyed thence to Gombe state where he dumped these kids by a road intersection and hoped that they would find a madrassa to take them in to study “Koranic education.”
This father returned to Jigawa state in the smug satisfaction that his family size is lightened and he could now take in a “fresh” wife for another spell of “enjoyment” without the added burden of caring for those two abandoned boys.
True, the almajiri system is a gross corruption of the Eli-Hannah-Samuel historical story line of the Bible; Hannah was sure Samuel would be thoroughly cared for at the Temple before making her vow. When a people try to corrupt scriptural teachings, the result is widespread poverty. Since the parents of the almajiris cannot build the individual homefront, is it any wonder then that Northern Nigeria towns and cities are terribly fractured and usually economically-depressed?
Sunday Adole Jonah,
Department of Physics,
Federal University of Technology,
Minna, Niger State
