The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has insisted that the almajirai (child beggars) menace in Northern Nigeria is not a religious concern, but a social issue that needs urgent attention.

Kano Focus reports that Mr Sanusi disclosed this on Thursday at the opening of the 108th edition of Islamic Vacation Course (IVC), organized by the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) Zone B, held in Ogun State

He said the almajirai menace involves out-of-school children who are sent, often by their parents, to Islamic clerics to live and learn Quranic knowledge but often end up begging and doing tedious work on the streets.

He added millions of almajri children roam Northern Nigerian streets amidst efforts of local and federal authorities to solve the problem, hence begged Nigerians, especially Muslims, to give birth to the number of children they can cater for.

Mr Sunusi said while maintaining that there is a need to get all out of school children back to school, and their parents should imbibe the habit of marrying the number of women they can cater for.

“We have been talking about almajri for over 30 years. Why are people having family that they cannot maintain? Why are people marrying wives that they cannot maintain? The condition is that you are able to provide for your family.

“Instead of having many children, why not have the ones you can cater for? These are the fundamental questions we should ask ourselves.

“Most of these children roaming streets will be adult in the next 20 years and they will be the ones recruited as political thugs by the politicians in the next twenty years, if we don’t take good care of them now.

“This is my own advice that we must look at. These are not religious issues, they are social issues that need to be addressed,” the monarch said as reported by Kano Focus.