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WHY ABUBAKAR MALAMI’S RAYHAAN UNIVERSITY SHOULD BE CONVERTED TO AN ALMAJIRI SCHOOL AND SKILLS ACQUISITION CENTRE

Published

4 months ago

January 8, 2026

CapitalTimesNews

Friday Lines (103) With

Dr Abubakar Alkali

8/1/26

Justice Emeka Nwite last Tuesday, granted an interim forfeiture of 57 assets including Rayhaan university illegally acquired by former attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and justice minister Abubakar Malami. These assets are alleged proceeds of crime and now belong to the federal government pending an impending final forfeiture order by the federal high court.

Clearly this is a landmark ruling by Justice Nwite just as Nigerians await his ruling on the final forfeiture order as soon as the law dictates. To make a better use of these humongous illegal assets particularly the Rayhaan university in Birnin Kebbi, it is expedient that after the final forfeiture, the Rayhaan university is converted to an ALMAJIRI PRIMARY and SECONDARY SCHOOL in one part with the other part is converted to a SKILLS ACQUISITION CENTRE to train Almajiri in key hands-on skills such as welding, bricklaying, furniture design. auto mechanic, tailoring, information and communications technology (ICT) inter alia.

It is also recommended that the Azbir Arena and events centre in Birnin Kebbi, which is another of Malami’s alleged illegally acquired and forfeited assets, should be coverted to a MILITARY BARRACKS to give our gallant soldiers a favorable base to fight the Lakurawa terrorists currently tormenting Kebbi state and its environs.

Converting the Rayhaan university to ALMAJIRI AND SKILLS ACQUISITION CENTRE will go a long way in reducing the huge number of out-of-school children (OOSC) in Nigeria which stands at over 20 million. About 80% (16 million) of the out-of-school-children in Nigeria are in the North and Kebbi state, Malami’s home state where he aspires to be governor to enjoy his alleged loot and be covered by immunity, is the first on the OOSC list.

In the national multi dimensional poverty index (NMDI) released in November 2024, Kebbi state came first as the state with the highest university of out-of-school-children at 67.6% (aged 6-15 years). Needles to add here that almost 100% of these helpless children are Almajiri roaming our streets barefooted, helpless and hungry. They are getting vulnerable and prone and susceptible to joining criminal gangs and taking to crimes for survival.

In fact, Rayhaan university, allegedly acquired by Malami through the proceeds of crime can serve as the hub and clearing house for Almajiri out-of-school children in the entire Northern Nigeria. States such as Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa etc can send their Almajiri children to the RAYHAAN ALMAJIRI SCHOOL so that these abandoned Almajiri children can be trained into productive assets to their communities.

The RAYHAAN ALMAJIRI SCHOOL should have both the primary and secondary sections with a skills acquisition centre inclusive. Some of the classrooms should be turned into workshops and equipped with the necessary tools and machines to train the Almajiri on hands-on trades and enable them set up small businesses.

The Rayhaan Almajiri school should be managed 100% by the federal government. After the training of the Almajiri on welding, carpentry and joinery, bricklaying, auto mechanic etc, the respective states should provide working tools and soft loans to the trained Almajiri to set up small businesses. This will promote the proliferation of macro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across these Northern state that have become symbols of poverty despite the huge federal allocation
and other sources of revenue accruing to them very month. You wonder what Northern state governors are doing with this humongous revenue running into billions of Naira that comes to them monthly while their people wallow in abject poverty.

Experience has shown that most assets forfeited to the federal government by the courts through the economic and financial commission (EFCC) or the independent corrupt practices commission (ICPC) end up being repossessed by the corrupt and indicted individual through the back door. In quite a few cases, the corrupt government official goes on endless appeals to frustrate this final forfeiture. Every effort should be made to ensure that the 57 forfeited assets are not returned to Abubakar Malami under any guise.