Nigeria is Africa’s largest country by population, with over 200 million people. Almost halt, about 46% are under 15. By UNICEF statistics, about 10.2 million to 20 million are out of school, meaning that about one in three children in Nigeria is out of school,

This comes with horrific implications. These children are recruited as bandits into insurgency and terrorrist groups like Boko Haram, which has terrorrised Northern Nigeria for more than 20 years. They are called Almajiri children. Almajiri literally means a youth (usually male), who leaves his parent’s home to be learned in Qur’anic education.

However, beyond the original intention of the scheme, these boys roam the streets without parental guidance, sometimes homeless, with tattered clothes and begging bowls scavenging for food. Their hallmark is their big bowls with which they beg for food. They become targets for recruitment by terrorrist groups, arming them with dangeraous weapons and turning them into suicide bombers!

At TACF, we came up with a project called The Almajiri Project, where these boys are our focus. We feed them, make them feel loved and seek to give them a sense of belonging to civil society.

We held this event for them sometime in September 2024 where we fraternised with them, fed them and motivated them.

This will be a continuous project.