A non-profit organisation, Foundation for Peace Professionals (PeacePro), has warned that Nigeria’s worsening insecurity will persist unless the Almajiri system is dismantled within the next five years, describing it as a major driver of banditry, terrorism and organised crime.
The group raised the alarm on Tuesday following a fact-finding tour of seven northern states, warning that the long-standing practice of child abandonment, often defended as culture or religion, has evolved into a serious national and regional security threat.
PeacePro’s Executive Director, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, said the scale of the problem goes beyond isolated criminal activity, noting that the country is “mass-producing” millions of uneducated, excluded and vulnerable children each year.
“This is not just banditry or terrorism; it is the long-term consequence of a society that has normalised the abandonment of its children,” Hamzat said, describing the Almajiri system in its current form as “evidence of total societal collapse.”
He called on the federal and state governments to declare the Almajiri crisis a national emergency and a top security priority, urging a coordinated plan to dismantle the system within five years through rehabilitation, vocational training and sustained engagement with religious and traditional leaders.
Hamzat blamed what he described as a collective failure of families, religious institutions, ethnic leadership, society and the state, arguing that all have abdicated responsibility for child welfare and education.
PeacePro warned that if the trend continues, the consequences could extend beyond Nigeria, destabilising the wider West African subregion. “The volume of abandoned youths being generated annually is enough to ignite a regional crisis,” Hamzat cautioned.
Rejecting claims that the system is untouchable because it is cultural or religious, the organisation said any tradition that thrives on child deprivation has lost moral legitimacy. “Culture is not sacred when it destroys lives,” Hamzat said.
The group stressed that its position is not an attack on Islam or northern culture, but a call for urgent reform rooted in responsibility and compassion, warning that children raised without education, care or civic identity are easily recruited by criminal and extremist networks.
