The Almajiri Commission and how politicians cannibalise Nigerians

By Faruk Ahmed

Imagine you are a child in Kano. You wake up every morning with a plastic bowl in your hand, not a book. You walk miles under the sun, not to school, but to beg. Your parents cannot feed you. The government created a commission just for you. It was called the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education (NCAOOSCE). It was supposed to be your lifeline.

Then they built roads with your money. In Ogun State.


The commission that forgot the children

The NCAOOSCE was established in May 2023 to reform the Almajiri system and reintegrate out-of-school children. Then came the 2026 budget. Scrutiny revealed that ₦8.4 billion of its budget was earmarked for road construction in Ogun, Ekiti, and Katsina States.

One project: "Rehabilitation and Construction of Obasanjo-Itele Road" in Ogun—₦1.4 billion. Another: roads in Damarkatu, Katsina—₦1 billion. Yet another: internal roads at Government Science College, Ekiti—₦1 billion.

Meanwhile, the commission allocated just ₦70 million for state offices across 36 states. Just ₦35 million for teaching materials. Just ₦32 million for its website—which remains inaccessible.

A child in Kano who cannot read will watch as money meant for his education repairs roads in states where Almajiri children do not even exist.

The commission's defense? "These are constituency projects inserted by the National Assembly."

 

Budget padding as a way of life?

Let us talk about the enablers. The National Assembly members who inserted these projects are not innocent bystanders. Budget padding is an open, notorious practice. A former presidential aide admitted it is "normal practice". Femi Falana has stated: "The President allows it".

The road projects in Ogun were inserted by lawmakers from Ogun—politicians who saw the Almajiri Commission as a convenient pipeline for their constituency projects. They do not care about Almajiri children. They care about re-election.

The same lawmakers who voted to establish the commission are the same ones diverting its funds to build roads in their home states.

 

A pattern of theft

The 2025 and 2026 budgets of NCAOOSCE reveal a disturbing pattern of duplications—a clear sign of systemic corruption. Here are the most glaring examples from the 2025 and 2026 budgets:

- Computers and Office Equipment: 2025 - ₦50m, 2026 - ₦35m
- Website Update: 2025 - ₦45.8m, 2026 - ₦32m
- Digitalisation: 2025 - ₦50m, 2026 - ₦35m
- Vehicles for Principal Officers: 2025 - ₦40m, 2026 - ₦24m
- Operational Vehicles: 2025 - ₦80m, 2026 - ₦50m

These are not errors. They are deliberate. They create opportunities for multiple rounds of contracts, kickbacks, and inflated invoices. A serious agency would not need to purchase "Computers and Office Equipment" year after year. The Commission allocated N2 billion in 2025 and N1.05 billion in 2026 for the rehabilitation and construction of the Eyinni High School to Lusada Junction Road in Ogun State.

In two years, NCAOOSCE received over ₦22.4 billion for projects outside its core mandate. This is not incompetence. It is design.

 

The human cost

There is a woman in a village in Katsina. Her children walk ten kilometres for water. The clinic has no drugs. The school has no roof. Meanwhile, a former Attorney-General owned 57 properties. A former Minister of Power stole ₦33.8 billion.

What does she think when she hears this? What does the teacher think when her salary is delayed six months? What does the graduate think when he sees a man who stole his future running for governor?

They think: "The system is rigged. Hard work does not matter. Corruption is the only path to success."

And they are right.

This is not just hopelessness. It is a recruitment pipeline.

 

How bandits are formed

When a young man in Zamfara sees that the only people who prosper are thieves, he stops believing in the system. When a father cannot feed his children because the money meant for his village was diverted to a politician's pocket, he stops believing in the state. When a graduate with a degree cannot find a job but a corrupt politician's son drives a new SUV every month, he stops believing in hard work.

That is when desperation takes over. That is when the bandits come calling.

The same politicians who steal the budgets meant for education and security are the ones who create the army of angry, unemployed, hopeless young men who become the foot soldiers of banditry. They steal from the North, then use the insecurity they created to justify more stealing. It is a perfect, monstrous cycle.

The Almajiri child on the street today is the bandit of tomorrow—unless someone intervenes. The graduate who cannot find a job is the kidnapper of next year—unless something changes. The father who cannot feed his family is the informant who helps bandits raid villages—unless he sees a reason to believe in the system again.

Corruption does not just steal money. It steals futures. And stolen futures do not disappear. They become bandits, terrorists, and the next generation of insecurity.

The politicians who loot the NCAOOSCE budget are not just stealing from Almajiri children. They are funding the next wave of banditry. They are sowing the seeds of the very insecurity they claim to fight.

 

A national cancer

The NCAOOSCE imbroglio is not isolated. It is a symptom of a systemic disease. Consider the following examples of the same mindset at work:

- Abubakar Malami, former Attorney-General, owned 57 properties worth over ₦212 billion—a university, a 131-room hotel in Kano. He earned a minister's salary.

- Saleh Mamman, former Minister of Power, was sentenced to 75 years for stealing ₦33.8 billion from the Mambilla project.

- Seyi Makinde, Governor of Oyo, has been accused of diverting ₦30 billion meant for Ibadan explosion victims.

- Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar revealed over ₦210 billion in duplicated and overlapping allocations in the 2026 budget.

This is the anatomy of the Nigerian politician. Wherever they are posted, they work first and foremost for themselves, not the country.

 

The surgical solution

You cannot treat a cancer with a band-aid. You must excise the tumour.

  1. Pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill: It would require politicians to explain their wealth. If they cannot, the state can seize it.
  2. End budget padding: The President must refuse to sign any budget containing such insertions.
  3. Establish an Independent Crime Assets Agency: Truly independent—not captured by the people it is meant to investigate.
  4. Sanction political parties: If a party fields a candidate with forfeited assets, the party should face consequences.
  5. Reject corruption at the ballot box: Citizens must say "no" to candidates with questionable wealth.

 

The question

The Nigerian politician is a cancer we have fed for too long. We have watched them build empires while our children starve. We have celebrated them while they looted our future.

The Almajiri child is still on the street. The roads in Ogun are still being built. The budget is still being padded.

The question is not whether they are guilty. The question is: when will we stop being their accomplices?

The answer begins with this: stop celebrating them. Stop voting for them. Stop excusing them. Start building something else.

---

Faruk Ahmed is the Coordinator of The Nation Builders Initiative (TNBI) and the author of The Last Card.

Join the Nation Builders Magazine channel for more stories that expose what is broken – and build what comes next:
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va8mM4oDZ4LceH21sd1v

 

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