DAVID MARK
During plenary on Wednesday, the Senate President, David Mark, came down very hard on governors of Northern states over the Almajiri system. He charged that the governors and politicians were responsible for the prevalence of the Almajiri system in the region due to their inability to stem its existence.
The senate president said that the foot-dragging over abolishing the Almajiri system was due to political reasons and called on them to immediately ban the “counterproductive” system which has turned into a “breeding ground for irresponsible miscreants”.
Mark spoke during the consideration of a bill titled: “A bill for an Act to repeal and Re-enact the Trafficking in Persons Act”, which was sponsored by the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba.
The bill scaled second reading and was referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal matters for further legislative inputs.
“We must admit that politicians in the north have failed over the years to stem the almajiri system.
“In fact if anything else, it will appear that they have encouraged it or for political reasons they’ve been scared of making a comment on it. I think it’s a unique opportunity for governors in the northern region to ban the almajiri system today.
“It’s a system that is counter-productive, it is a breeding ground for irresponsible miscreants and we cannot tolerate it. Because for those who have different faith, one is bit worried about making comments on it, but today that I’ve heard that it is not an Islamic injunction.
“I think that system ought to have been banned long ago. And I hope that they will summon the courage to ban the the system at the earliest possible time. I’m told that Kano yesterday (Tuesday) issued a statement banning it and I believe that the other state governors should be able to follow as quickly as possible,” Mark added.
The Senate President also insisted that unemployment was not an excuse for indulging in terrorism.
“It is amazing when we tend to make excuses for our failings. If you cannot gain employment you go and join a terrorist group so that you can be employed. You join Boko Haram because you have no employment.
“If you are poor, then you begin to trade and traffick in human beings so that you can be rich? These are all excuses. What about the people who are buying these people outside? Is it because they can’t find employment or because they are poor? I think we should stop making excuses.
“Everything is reduced to the level of unemployment in the country. Nigeria is not the only country where everybody is not employed.
“That you are not employed does not mean you should go and do something very bizarre. You open up a baby factory, you begin to sedate people and remove their organs to sell. It’s just never a good excuse for some of the things that we do.
“As long as we continue to make excuses for these criminal activities, we are going to find it difficult to improve because there is a mindset already.”
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