Dr Nura Alkali wrote series. .

Just travel across northern states and you won't miss the plots of land belonging to the Islamic group "Izalatul Bidiya Wa Ikamatul Sunna", also known as "Izala". I know of one in Bauchi Town GRA, another one on Bauchi-Jos road near Nabordo (or perhaps Magaman Gumau), and many more in Yola, Abuja, Gombe and elsewhere. They all bear signs by the roadside proclaiming "This land belongs to JIBWIS", so you can't miss them.

You would think a Muslim group acquiring those lands from government at little cost will seek funding from the Muslim public to build schools for educating Muslims, thereby helping to bridge the educational gap between the North and South. You would think that by now, JIBWIS will be running at least one university somewhere in the North, which is not much, considering the numerous universities owned by denominational churches in both Northern (Bingham University) and Southern Nigeria (Convenant, Benson Idahosa, etc).

You think wrong. To northern leaders and clerics, education for the ordinary citizen (but not their own children) should be limited to Islamic curriculum in almajiri schools. That is why N700 million guest houses for the Sultan and N200 million JIBWIS hotels are useful projects. No wonder BH found easy converts in our midst. Ya Allah, please grant me and like-minds the capacity to establish private universities to help educate our people and shame our leaders. Ameen.