Sen. Ade Fadahunsi(PDP-Osun) has called for action on research to tackle the Amajiri syndrome in the country.
He made the call when members of the Senate Committee on Special Duties paid a courtesy visit on the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, Prof. Aliyu Shugaba, on Friday in Maiduguri.
The visit by the committee was to ascertain the level of work carried out by the institution’s Centre for Disaster Risk Management and Development Studies.
He lamented that insurgency in the state which was a disaster that has been ravaging Borno since 2009, must be tackled to enable citizens live normal lives.
Fadahunsi urged the centre to research into ways to help the country check the menace of almajiri.
“Almajiris are breeding soldiers for the insurgents; that should be the foundation of your research, already they are a disaster and they are still there.
“Cut the sources of recruitment into terrorism, you have to start doing that if not, the flood of almajiri disaster will carry everybody away,” he said.
Chairman of the committee, Sen. Yusuf Yusuf assured the University of Senate’s support toward reducing some of the challenges confronting the institution.
“In addition to partnering with NEMA, North East Development Commission (NEDC) and by extension I think you are also partnering with the parliament because under special duties we oversight NEDC, NEMA and Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
“We assure you that we will do the best that we can to reduce the hardship, difficulties faced by the centre,’’ he said.
Noting that security was everybody’s responsibility, the lawmaker called for a collaborative effort by stakeholders to fight against insecurity.
the Director-General of NEMA, Muhammadu Muhammed said that the agency carried out an assessment of Nigerian universities and six were identified for the collaboration in disaster risk management.
Muhammed, represented by Dr Kayode Fagbemi, Director, Planning, Research and Forecasting of NEMA, said that the universities included; Universities of Maiduguri, Ibadan, Port Harcourt among others.
“In our collaboration, we wanted them to carry out teaching and research that will improve people’s knowledge on disaster risk management,” he said.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the centre is working in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
