Despite Sokoto’s Child Protection Law, School-Age Children Defy Formal Education

On the wee hours of a Thursday morning in September 2025, Yusuf Sani wandered around the streets of Dandima, a local community on the major road leading to Usman Danfodiyyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), Northwest Nigeria. 

The 10-year-old boy stood amidst a boisterous crowd and cars, beckoning to passersby with pitiful eyes for alms. Most young children within his age bracket ought to be in the cosy walls of their respective classrooms, but his grey shirt spelt the woes of someone who experienced harsh realities at a tender age. 

“I am not attending any formal school. Instead, I am going to a madrasah [an Islamic school]. Life has been difficult since I came to this state, particularly in feeding myself. I’d have to beg before I could get a morsel of food,” Yusuf said with a sad voice. 

Although the boy has a bag full of dreams, one of which is becoming a popular mallam [an Islamic teacher], he doubts that his current situation will make this possible. He said that he travelled several miles from Gausa, Zamfara State, to Sokoto to gain knowledge. 

Yusuf’s story is not unique. Isma’il and Hambali Adamu* also left Rudun Bisa, a town near Kebbi State, to acquire Arabic education in Sokoto. “We only came here to learn the words of our religion, not the formal education.  But if we could get a sponsor, we’d also attend the formal education,” they chorused, their faces beaming dryly.

“Our parents sent us here to learn this Karatun Allo. We have been in this state since the beginning of the month, begging for what to eat as we have nothing. We are juggling between begging and attending the centre of learning together.” 

The bigger picture

These accounts reflect the plights of 10 million children under the Almajiri system in Northern Nigeria. The parents of the majority of them lacked access to basic welfare, let alone sponsoring their wards to a Western education. 

About 113,208 Almajiri children reside in Sokoto, according to a recent verification conducted by the state government in conjunction with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The exercise revealed that the out-of-school are mostly boys living outside of family care and extreme poverty. 

Similarly, the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) revealed that Northern Nigeria recorded the highest school dropout rate in the country, with over 63 per cent of 127,067 children dropping out of school nationwide. This implies that the region has 80,052 dropouts.

Behind Kano, the third state topping the chart, Sokoto has 11,339 dropouts, with  7,610 males covering the figure

Between religious and formal education 

Dandima Atiku, the proprietor of one of the Islamic centres in Dendima, said that most of his students do not subscribe to Western education. While some are interested in going, he furthered that they must reach a particular stage in assimilating the Quran.

“Some of my students attend government schools and come for our Arabic classes too. Some intend to get a university degree when they finish high school,” he told Campus Reporter. 

He clarified that the centres do not have the duty of providing basic needs for children, except for imparting the knowledge they came for.

Speaking with Taoheed Adegbite, a child rights advocate, he stated that although the issue of young kids who fend for themselves is not new, experts have thought that the Child Rights Act, domesticated in the state, would fix it. 

“The issue is terrible and takes a long time to end. One thing is to make a law, and the other is to implement it. Frankly speaking, we are lagging in enforcing our laws as a nation. Stakeholders, including custodians of culture and religion, must do more to stop this trend. 

“Beyond poverty, there is a need for a total restructuring of the mindsets on how many people see knowledge acquisition. We should stop asking the government for more policies without giving a chance to our paper-tiger laws to take effect first,” he added.

In 2021, the Aminu Tambuwal-led administration enacted the Sokoto State Child Protection Law. The development followed years of protests from international and local actors, demanding that the state domesticate a legal framework to cater for the well-being of children in the state.

Among other things, the law aims to ensure an inclusive education for every child; rthe ight to parental care, protection and maintenance; protection against child labour, especially when such may interfere with a child’s education. 

Despite the direct and clear obligations of the law, the deficits the promulgation seeks to cure still linger. Several children of school age who spoke to this reporter told similar tales.

Consequently, the parents of these children, together with the government, violated numerous provisions of the Law without punishment.

Habeeb Gobir, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, corroborated Taoheed’s views. Aside from the implementation problem, he said that some states in Nigeria do not even have the children’s rights laws at all.  

“This gap between law and practice is why children roam the streets.  Law alone cannot solve the problem; there needs to be political will, adequate funding and community involvement. Governments should provide stronger social welfare systems, NGOs and civil society must continue advocacy, and communities need to see child protection as a shared responsibility,” he noted.

He stated that while Sokoto holds the right laws on paper regarding protecting young minds, the real issue lies in actions that can bring a lasting solution. “Until this changes, children will unfortunately remain vulnerable despite the existence of protective legislation.

When contacted for comments, Ahmad Ladan Alah, the commissioner for basic education in Sokoto, told Campus Reporter that children who do not attend schools might make it a matter of choice and not poverty.  Efforts to get further information from him proved abortive. Calls and text messages sent to his line were not responded to as of press time. 

This report is supported by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID)