Empowering Street-roaming Children with Tech Skills

Recently, a foundation, known as the Almajiri-to-Tech Foundation, transformed 21 street-roaming children in northern part of Nigeria, known as Almajiri children, with technology skills in six months. The plan is to graduate more of the over 30 million street children to further drive Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda, writes Emma Okonji

If 21 children could be transformed in six months, what could happen to over 30 million on the streets? This question lingered throughout the graduation ceremony of the Almajairi’s as speakers, policymakers, religious leaders and education advocates reflected on what they had witnessed. Before them sat young boys and girls who, only months earlier, had little or no formal education in English Language but today, confidently demonstrate skills many university graduates have never acquired, courtesy of the foundation that trained them on basic technology skills.

For years, they were known only by what they lacked. They lacked homes, formal education and opportunities. To millions of Nigerians, they were simply just the Almajiri children roaming the streets with bowls in their hands, and surviving on alms. However, those same hands that once stretched out for survival now hold screwdrivers, assemble computers, repair electronic devices, and build drones. The applause that filled the hall was not merely for 21 graduates receiving certificates, it was also for a new possibility and a future many had never imagined, a future where the Almajiri child is no longer defined by poverty, but by potential.

Tech Skills Graduation

Addressing the audience during the graduation ceremony in Abuja, the Founder, Almajiri-to-Tech Foundation, Mr. Tim Akano, spoke with conviction born from experience and not theory. Rather than waiting for grants or government intervention, Akano chose to finance the tech-training programme with his own resources. He reached into his own pocket, pulled out N100 million to use for the programme because he believed that they are Nigerian children and that action was needed to empower a single child.

Akano expressed that the transformation should permanently change how Nigerians view vulnerable children as the children are not incapable nor unintelligent but have simply been denied opportunity. Akano’s vision stretches far beyond the 21 young pioneers who crossed the graduation stage as he hopes to help take 30 million children off Nigeria’s streets by 2031, by expanding a model that combines technology education, practical skills, entrepreneurship and holistic support. He has however, appealed to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to provide a fully equipped workshop where the graduates can continue to practice their skills and serve paying customers.

Endorsement

Khafilat Ogbara, who is widely celebrated as the “Mother of Almajiri and Out-of-School Children,” endorsed the programme and described it as a practical demonstration of what inclusive education could achieve.

“This is the true Renewed Hope” she declared. Ogbara said the success of the Almajiri-to-Tech Foundation should not remain an isolated achievement. She challenged private schools, corporate organisations, philanthropists and well-meaning Nigerians to become active partners in reducing the number of out-of-school children across the country as every child, regardless of their background or circumstances, deserves an opportunity to learn in order to contribute meaningfully to society. 

Similarly, the programme also received endorsement from the Islamic leader affectionately referred to as the “Father of Almajiri and Out-of-School Children,” IGP MD Abubakar. While acknowledging Nigeria’s abundance of knowledge and capable personalities, he argued that the country’s greatest challenge is not a lack of ideas but the willingness to act. He therefore questioned the widely quoted estimate of 30 million out-of-school children, suggesting that the actual number visible on Nigeria’s streets may be even higher. He expressed that “If leaders fail to take care of those they are supposed to serve, we are in serious trouble as it will become difficult to sleep peacefully in beautiful mansions or drive freely on our roads because these children will eventually become a problem for everyone.”

“A nation cannot abandon millions of children and expect lasting peace, security and prosperity. Every child denied education, skills and opportunity represent not only a personal tragedy but a growing national risk. Imagine a child who stands before a large audience and recites the entire Qur’an from memory. That is an intelligent child. That same child could have used the same capacity to study and excel in almost any other subject in our conventional schools,” Abubakar said.

In the same vein, various speakers at the programme called on the global media such as the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, to project African stories like the technology training for street-roaming children, instead of the continuous reporting on kidnapping, banditry or political crisis. According to them, not that those stories should be ignored, but they should not be projected as the only stories through which Nigeria is often viewed.

Founder’s Views

Expressing his views over the six-month technology training programme, its founder, Tim Akano, described the six months training in two words: Incredible Revelation. “The Almajiri children met and exceeded all expectations. Before now, we all believed that it was not possible for an individual to master more than one or maximum of three electronics repairing.  The Almajiris children broke the ceiling, each of them mastered how to repair and build the following: telephone handsets, desktops, laptops, fans, microwave ovens, power banks, televisions, rechargeable lamps, washing machines and pressing irons- 10 items in all. They can build the following from scratch: battery inverters, telephone handsets, desktops and drones and fly it. That is incredible,” Akano said.

Speaking about the challenges encountered during the training, Akano said: “Originally, my budget was N50 million for three months. But after three months we realised we needed to put them on attachments for practicals, and the budget suddenly jumped to over N100 million. Because I feed them daily, pay them money for coming to school and bought tools for them from China. At a level my Accountant was murmuring that Almajiri project was gulping too much money.  Again, there were so many analysts who expressed doubts saying “can anything good come out of Almajiris.” Some even confronted me telling me “Almajiris phenomenon is a deliberate creation of Northern Muslim elites, what is the business of a southern christian in fixing it?”  Others were of the belief that the Almajiris could not communicate in English, and therefore not trainable. These were some of my challenges.”

Of all my charity initiatives: Adoption of the Federal School of the Blinds Oshodi Lagos; Adoption of Baptist Day School Oluponna; Scholarships to 20,000 youth yearly, among others, the technology training of the Almajiris is one of my favorites, Akano further said.

Foundation’s Support

Speaking about the kind of support that the foundation will continue to provide to help them transition into work or business, Akano said the cost of setting them up was beyond the Almajiri children. “Therefore, I rented an office space and paid for one year. I equipped it with all the tools needed to carry out their jobs satisfactorily.  Now, they have an address called Almajiri Republic Technicians Workshop at Wuse 2 Abuja, besides New Horizons office. My team and I will monitor them daily.  I have two experienced mangers dedicated to the project exclusively.  We shall be reporting their progress and put the lessons into consideration in tackling the second phase,” Akano said.  

He however said the biggest challenges ahead would be marketing, financial management, and continuous improvement and adaptability challenges.  

He therefore called on state governments, NGOs and corporate organisations that are willing to partner with the foundation in taking the 30 million out- of -school and Almajiris children off the streets between now and 2031, to contact Almajiri -to-Tech Foundation (www.almajiritotech.com).

Nigeria has spent decades debating the Almajiri question. However, the young graduates seated in Abuja during graduation, suggested that perhaps the answer has been hiding in plain sight all along, not in another policy document, but in practical education, compassion and the courage to act.