Stakeholders have emphasized the need for Sokoto State Government to increase annual budget allocation to address the Almajiri system of education in the State.

Alhaji Musa Muhammad Wamakko, Director at the state Ministry of Budget, attributed the poor performance to the centralized accounting system, which he claims was introduced by the military and causes delays.

“That is the issue every quarter we go for a budget performance review meeting and we are not happy before now our budget performance always ends up after the year 29 to 30 performance.

He said this is the reason why in Sokoto we are operating a centralised accounting system.

He vividly remembered that some years ago when the state government operated ta treasury system a director in the ministry could award contracts based on the provision in the department.

He noted that the only thing at the end of the day, the director who awarded the contract must retire the money that was allocated to that office.

“If not so further release may not be given to me, but now we are operating a kind of centralised counting system which is military mentality”.

He advised the partners to form a very advocacy coalition and advocate to the governor on the revitalising of the Almajiri issue.

Raising from a media roundtable discussion organized by Plan International in partnership with the Productive Community for Sustainability Initiative held at the Conference Hall, Ministry of Finance, Sokoto, on Thursday.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Sokoto State Council, Comrade Usman Binji, urged the state government to address the challenges facing Almajiri education and integrate it into the formal education system.

Comrade Binji further assures his members of support to work toward ensuring the integration of Almajiri Education into a formal system of education.

He assured the partners that they should expect the media to commit to achieving the said goals.

Nura Suleiman Tangaza, Executive Director of Productive Community for Sustainable Initiative, welcomed participants and highlighted Plan International’s advocacy for women’s, children’s, and sustainability rights.

Tangaza explained that his organization is implementing a project in Sokoto and Bauchi states, funded by Plan International.

He said the stakeholders’ roundtable, part of the project’s advocacy efforts, brought together relevant stakeholders from the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Ministry of Budget and Economy Planning, Ministry of Religious Affairs, and media experts.

The discussion focused on strategies to increase budget allocation to address the Almajiri system of education.

Tangaza emphasized the need to address the numerous challenges associated with street begging and modernize the system to support children’s education.

He stressed that assisting these children would help them become future leaders, while failure to do so might lead to them becoming a menace to society.

Nura Usman, Director at the Sokoto State House of Assembly, delivered a goodwill message highlighting concerns about the state’s budget implementation. Specifically, he noted that in 2024, the performance of the budget implementation was zero in the state budget line.

For 2025, the approved budget had only one budget line dedicated to constructing four blocks of two classrooms each for selected Ismaiyya and Almajiri schools across the state. Usman pointed out that in 2024, N70 million was earmarked, but by the end of the year, the budget had zero performance.

In contrast, the 2025 budget was approved for N28,274,921.77k. However, Usman observed that the allocation decreased by over N41 million between 2024 and 2025.

During scrutiny, Usman emphasized the importance of evaluating performance, stating, “You cannot just keep some funds where there is no performance, as you would where there is performance.”

This statement underscores the need for effective budget utilization and performance evaluation to ensure that allocated funds are being used efficiently.

Usman maintains that the 2024 budget implementation was zero, with N70 million earmarked but unutilized.

In 2025, the approved budget had only one budget line for constructing four blocks of two classrooms each in selected Ismaiyya and Almajiri schools.

However, the allocation decreased by over N41 million between 2024 and 2025.

A budget analyst with Sokoto State House of Assembly, Yusuf Abdullahi discussed with his director in regard to the approved budget of Almajiri School and the capital component of the budget saying there was a difference between the 2024 and 2025 budgets without performance.

He referred to last year’s approved budget for the construction of two blocks of Almajiri Classroom in the Goronyo local government area.

The approved budget is N80 million and no performance and the same N80 million is approved in the 2025 budget.

Secondly, the construction of two blocks of five classes for Almajiri pupils in Sokoto South and the same allocation in 2024, it was N80 million and in 2025 the same future and no performance.

The same construction of two blocks of five classes in Dange Shuni N100 million was approved in the 2025 budget same thing without performance.

He hopes with the participation of development partners Sokoto will witness rapid performance in budget implementation.

In 2024, N600 million was approved for rehabilitation and in 2025 witnessed zero performance in 2025 the same project but N300 million was approved, the gab of N300 million.

He noted the amount N300milliin was approved instead of increasing the amount but decreased despite the inflationary rate and other challenges.