A former executive secretary of the Universal Basic Education, Prof. Ahmed Modibbo, said northern governors frustrated the integration of the almajiri school with western education.
The former UBEC chief stated this at lecture with the theme, ‘Before the ban on the almajiri system of education in Nigeria, which was organised by the Centre for Historical Documentation and Research of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State on Saturday.
The administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan in an attempt to keep almajiris off the streets, spent billions of naira to build model school aimed at integrating the almajiri school with the western education. But this met a brick wall.
This, the former UBEC boss said was because the government of the region abandoned the project.
Modibbo said, “The northern state governors left the schools unoccupied, abandoned and vandalised. They neither take them over, nor fulfilled their obligations as contained in the Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government.

“The state governments were not happy with the decision of the Federal Government to undertake the project through UBEC and the Education Tax Fund as they wanted the money to be given to them so that they could nominate contractors for the project.”
