No fewer than 7, 000 Almajiris have so far been captured by the Niger State Government under the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), a World Bank assisted programme.
The programme is targeted at reducing the number of out of school children in Nigeria.
Chairman Niger State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr Isa Adamu, announced this when he paid an unscheduled visit to some of the schools in Minna metropolis to monitor the level of compliance by facilitators of the Almajiri pupils.
Adamu explained that the Almajiris are fed twice a week to enable them concentrate fully on learning basic conventional skills.
He maintained that the number of enrollment of Almajiris has been rising steadily due to the acceptability of the programme.
Adamu expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance in most of the Almajiri schools visited and reaffirmed their determination to work towards ensuring the success of the programme across Niger state.
According to him, plans are under way to increase the allowances of facilitators of the programme towards boosting their morale for effective service delivery.
Seventeen states of the federation are currently participating in the the World Bank programme.
