LifestyleNigeriaPovertyTaraba Govt Rejects Almajiris from Nasarawa State

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Amid Coronavirus surge,  Taraba state government on Monday rejected Almajiris that were evacuated from Nasarawa state back to the state as agreed upon by the Northern Governors.

This situation spurred mixed reactions by human rights groups describing the rejection as ” uncalled for ” calling on the Federal government to intervene.

The Almajirai reportedly arrived Jalingo from Lafiya, Nasarawa state capital on Sunday along with officials of Nasarawa state Ministry of Women Affairs, who had to sleep outside the office of the Secretary to Taraba state government in Jalingo and were only received by some officials in the office at 10 am on Monday.

Stranded almajiris from Nasarawa state

Multiple sources say that the returned  Almajiris were later asked to leave the gate of office of the SSG and go to welcome to Jalingo town gate along Jalingo-Wukari road and wait for the official of the state.

” The officials from the Taraba SSG’s office arrived at welcome to Jalingo at about 12.45 pm where they handed over the Almajiris to the officials of Nasarawa state government with a letter addressed to the Secretary to the government of Nasarawa state with instructions to take back the Almajirai from where they brought them.

“The letter from the office of the Secretary to Taraba state government,  dated 4th, May 2020 with reference no SSG / ADM/ S/ 167/ 11/ 125. and signed by one Sunday Tanko Maiyaki, Permanent Secretary Political Cabinet Affairs and general services.”The letter read in part “unphysical verification the number of pupils brought to Taraba state are 79 not 102 as stated in the letter brought from Nasarawa state.

“The government of Taraba state wish to return the pupils to you and requests that the pupils should be properly profiled indicating their local government of origin in Taraba state and individual status in respect of the pandemic,” the letter said,” investigation has revealed.

The letter further directed that subsequent return, the pupils should be accompanied by their respective Teachers who will identify their parents at their respective local government areas to properly hand them over to their parents.

One of the officials who accompanied the Almajiris, expressed dismay over the action of Taraba state government.

According to him, “all the Almajiris  were kept in isolation in a secondary school in Lafiya and tested for Coronavirus and all of them are negative.”The officials explained that the, ” Almajiris brought were not provided with Food and left inside vehicles that brought them for several hours and only to be rejected even though they are indigene of the state.”

The officials stated that Nasarawa state government has evacuated over 1000 Almajirai to the respective states and only in Taraba state that they were turned back.

” We are asked to take the Almajiris back to Nasarawa with a letter addressed to the Secretary to Nasarawa State government with one hundred thousand naira (N100,000) to fuel our vehicles” the official said.

No, the due protocol was not observed- Taraba Govt.

When contacted on the rejection, the state commissioner of information Mr. Danjuma Adamu said that ” due protocol was not followed in returning them back, the state government needs to know their exact number, health status -positive or negative in detail and their respective local government areas.

” Not just pack them in buses for the sake of returning them,” said the information commissioner

Almajirai evacuated from Nasarawa state by the state government.

Ibrahim Abdul' Aziz (Correspondent)
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