The Amajiri Education System and the Economic Implications for Northern Nigeria

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The incidence and evolution of the Almajiri educational system had a subsisting dominant phenomenon which has socio-economic implications for northern Nigeria where it flourished. It is a system associated with Islam and the Qur’anic system of education inherent in the culture of Muslims and Islamic families in northern Nigeria. This work examines the evolution and development of this educational system in northern Nigeria where its prevalence and pervading educational system through historical research methods, using primary and secondary data. The paper established that the Almajiri system has kept a reasonable percentage of northern youths away from formal educational systems either western or oriental. The analysis further shows that the economic development of northern Nigeria has been undermined as the prevalence of this education system could not equip the youths with the required skills to drive the economic development of a twenty-first-century society. The paper argues that there is an urgent need to restructure the Almajiri system and incorporate it into the Nigerian educational system for the much-needed economic transformation and avoid the current prevalent fundamentalism, child abuse and poverty where this system thrives. The paper concludes that the slow socio-economic growth of northern Nigeria is associated with the thriving Almajiri educational system and strongly recommends the restructuring of the education system to use it as a weapon for enhancing civilization, economic development and growth.