Taraba rejects almajiris from Nasarawa
Some ‘almajiri’
children transferred from Nasarawa State to Taraba state, were rejected by the
state government on Monday May 4.
The children who
arrived the Taraba capital, Jalingo, from Lafia, Nasarawa’s capital on Sunday
alongside officials of the Nasarawa State Ministry of Women Affairs, were
rejected because "Nasarawa officials did not observe due protocol."
Premium Times
reported that the children slept outside the office of the Secretary to the
Taraba State Government on Sunday May 3, and were only attended to at 10 a.m.
on Monday. They were formally rejected with a letter addressed to the Secretary
to Government of Nasarawa State and instructions to the officials to take the
children back.
The letter from the
office of the Secretary to Taraba State government, dated May 4, 2020 with
reference no SSG / ADM/ S/ 167/ 11/ 125 was signed by one Sunday Maiyaki,
Permanent Secretary Political Cabinet Affairs and General Services. It reads in
part;
“The 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.”
One of the Nasarawa
State Official who expressed disappointment with the development said;
“All the almajiris
were kept in isolation in a secondary school in Lafia and tested for
coronavirus and all of them are negative.
“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 indigenes of the
state.
“We were asked to
take the almajiris back to Nasarawa with a letter addressed to the Secretary to
Nasarawa State Government with N100,000 to fuel our vehicles."
Taraba commissioner
of information, Danjuma Adamu however said that the kids were rejected because
Nasarawa officials did not observe ‘due protocol’.
Adamu said;
“Due protocol was
not followed in returning them back. The (Taraba) state government needs to
know their exact number, health status (positive or negative to COVID-19) in
details and their respective local government areas. Not just pack them in
buses for the sake of returning them.”
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