Relocating Almajirai not enough, NHRC tells northern govs

Ade Adesomoju, Abuja

The National Human Rights Commission on Friday advised governors of northern states not to just relocate Almajirai to their states of origin but to also develop programmes to address their needs.

NHRC Director, Corporate Affairs and External Linkages, Lambert Oparah, said this was contained in a just-issued ‘advisory opinion’.

He stated that the advisory opinion was issued in line with the commission’s mandate as provided in section 5 (l)(m)(o) of its enabling Act.

He said, “The commission calls on northern states’ governments to develop a multi-sectoral programme of action for the transfer, return and rehabilitation of Almajirai.

“A major step towards achieving this will be an obligation on the part of affected states to put in place financial, institutional, and programmatic frameworks to urgently address the needs of the Almajirai.”

Earlier, the Commission on Children’s Day urged 11 northern which had yet to domesticate the Child’s Rights Act to quickly do so, to enable them to comprehensively address the problems associated with the Almajirai problems.

The PUNCH reports that the northern governors recently reached an agreement to relocate Almajirai in their domains to their states of origin to mitigate the spreading of COVID-19 pandemic.