The Concerned Northern Forum (CNF), has called on the National Assembly to hasten the process of the bill on the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) to be presented for third reading and subsequent assent by President Muhammadu Buhari before the expiration of the present administration.
The Concerned Northern Forum, which is a coalition of over 73 Civil Society Organizations domiciled in Northern Nigeria, also called on the National Assembly to increase budgetary allocations to NBAIS to enable it to effectively carry out constituted functions.
Addressing newsmen in Kaduna on Tuesday, the spokesman of the group, Comrade Abdulsalam Mohammed Kazeem, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Education for their continuous support to the entire NBAIS management.
The group called on well meaning Nigerians, especially members of the Civil Society, religious and political leaders across the country and northern Nigeria in particular, to come to the aid of NBAIS, stressing that at a time like this that Nigeria is determined to reform the almajiri system of education, all hands must be on deck to make it a success.
According to him, “We therefore want to use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency and national development look into the many challenges of the Board in the area of staffing, mobility and the procurement of furniture and comfortable office accommodation. So far, the Board has offices in 26 States of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
He added, “The Tsangaya Centre will be a training and retraining Centre of Excellence for teachers and tutors of Tsangaya education all over the country. It combines conventional schooling with skill acquisition and entrepreneurship education. This innovative agenda was informed by the need to equip and empower Nigerian youths in a bid to take them off the streets, especially amongst children from economically disadvantaged homes, who often end up as destitutes in the guise of acquiring Arabic and Islamic education.
“This is a legacy of Prof. Shafi’u Mohammad Abdullahi and his team. History will forever be kind to him for his revolutionary strides and noble innovation as he strives to reposition the Board for greater national productivity. It will not be out of place to honour him in this year’s National Productivity and Honours Award.”