SALAM,
Good morning sir, rejoicing with you as the feast of celebrations for your office assumption goes and had started renting the huge sky, the atmosphere.
Sir, i am to register my profound displeasure over the rising Katsina city’s environmenal degradations through open defeacations especially by young almajiris (child beggars) I knew, human interactions with environment is highly inevitsble and has always resulted in waste accumulations that also results to unsafe and polluted environment. Equally, as Katsina city’s population grow faster at an uncontrolled rate of 3.6% every year, the hope for every stake holder and or administration is to think and formulate ways to achieve an environmentally-sound strategy ro make it and our populace healthier.
I also knew of the interplay between the host community, agents of disease and environmental health for Quranic studies in Hausa society is a MUST, inevitable. The most environmental cause of diseases in Katsina city today is almajiri, how they are left to defeacate everywhere with no control. A commonest example is Sabuwar Unguwa, close or attarch to Sabuwar Unguwa Primary School, at the eastern end of the building. The whole area is everyday. being defeacated by the almajiris, and people of the area kept adamant, mum due to ignorance. Peopls are watching them defeacating by 5am during Subh prayer and at around 12am when people desert the street. Similar incidences occur at a place close to an unused factory, adjacent to Mangal’s garage. There are two separate almajiri Quranic local Schools close to the place too, found in corners with routes leading to GDSS Kofar Kaura, still at Sabuwar Unguwa. For the former, the almajiri School that host the little kids is attached to Sabuwar Unguwa Primary School.
Elsewhere scattered within metropolitan Katsina, where almajiris (child beggars) settle there could probably be found a particular site where they shit and pollute the area.
Open defeacation is one of the challenges of 21st Century that faces environments especially the upcoming nations or African States with UN as its umbrella and the UNED as an agent that houses domestic and other related environmental menaces. It is pertinent to believe that the Jonathan’s policy to reposition almajiri system of learning in Northern Nigeria failed simply because the stake holders were not readily ready for that. We do also understand that even the routine health syatems of the child beggars is generally poor, that the eat very roten, unhygienic foods, they sleep in very unhealthy environment with no care. The rate of mosquito breeding and life cycle in a buffer area of Katsina city around the Sub-Saharan fringe is so high. The almajiris are the ones sufering most from mosquito bites because they are left to sleep in open places with a lot of gutters around that house the insects.
Let me call the attention of the governor-elect to kindly look into the matter and think of what to do to bring the situation to a halt.
The new syatem of almajiri management under your regime, sir, is, let them be given satellite areas to stay and proper toilets be constructed for them. In fact, an agency to carter for their developments and needs shouls chart ways to enhance and facilitate that.
Please, Mr. Radda, do something towards that, please start from somewhere. Our suburbs are highly polluted with open defeacation by almajiris.
We await a quick and a positive response from you, sir.
Please stay blessed. May God see you through.
Aliyu Ibrahim Kankara, is with the
Dept. of Geology, FUDMA, and is an Environmental consultant.
