Indonesian Scholar Urges Waqf-Based Model to Transform Almajiri Education in Nigeria

Indonesian Scholar Urges Waqf-Based Model to Transform Almajiri Education in Nigeria

An Indonesian Islamic scholar and philanthropist, Dr. Umi Waheedah Bint Abdul Rahman, has called for the adoption of a sustainable Waqf-driven model of education and community development in Nigeria, drawing on her experience of building Islamic boarding schools supported by productive businesses and investments.

Dr. Waheedah made the call while delivering a public lecture titled “Sustainable Community Empowerment through Waqf: Experiences, Lessons, and Prospects” at the CBN Centre of Excellence, Bayero University, Kano.

She explained that Waqf, an Islamic charitable endowment, could be developed into a productive economic system capable of financing education, creating jobs, reducing poverty and equipping vulnerable children with practical skills for independent living.

Sharing her experience, Dr. Waheedah said she and her late husband established free Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia in 1998 to provide vulnerable children with access to education and essential social services during a period of economic and social hardship.

The schools provide free education, food, accommodation and healthcare, demonstrating how well-managed charitable institutions can address multiple dimensions of poverty while preserving the dignity and future prospects of disadvantaged children.

According to her, the initiative expanded to serve approximately 23,000 students by 2010, covering levels from early childhood to university education. Following her husband’s death that year, the programme was streamlined to accommodate about 15,000 students.

She recalled facing significant financial challenges after taking over the institution, including substantial debts and unpaid staff salaries. To sustain the schools and meet outstanding obligations, she sold her personal jewellery and vehicles while protecting the Waqf assets that supported the institution.

The experience, she said, reinforced the importance of preserving endowed assets while managing them productively to generate sustainable income.

The institution’s assets include rice fields, rice-processing factories, coffee farms, timber plantations, a bread factory and other agricultural and commercial enterprises. Dr. Waheedah disclosed that the organisation, which initially operated 25 business units, eventually expanded to 73.

She stressed that Waqf should not be viewed solely as a means of collecting charitable donations but as a sustainable economic system capable of generating revenue to finance social services over the long term.

By combining Islamic charitable endowments with social entrepreneurship, sound business management and vocational education, she explained, the institution has developed a model in which business activities support educational services while students acquire skills for productive lives.

The model integrates agriculture, food production, energy, water management and waste recycling to reduce operational costs, generate additional income and create practical learning opportunities.

Its enterprises include rice processing, noodle production, soya milk manufacturing, farming, fisheries, livestock and poultry production. The organisation also operates a poultry enterprise with 10,000 laying chickens and produces animal feed to support its agricultural activities.

In an innovative approach to waste management, food waste is converted into larvae for feeding poultry and fish, while discarded plastics, eggshells, sweet wrappers and other materials are recycled into yarn, crafts, ornaments and paving blocks.

The initiative’s philosophy is captured in its motto: “There’s no trash, but cash.”

Dr. Waheedah said the approach demonstrates how materials often discarded as waste can become valuable resources, creating economic opportunities while promoting environmental sustainability.

Students participate directly in producing items such as caps, soap, socks and other goods for use within the institution and sale to external customers. Some products, including traditional caps known as kofia, have reached international markets, including Senegal.

Beyond generating revenue, the activities expose students to practical production, marketing, business management and entrepreneurship. The institution also provides vocational training in agriculture, fisheries, sewing, beauty-product production and other trades alongside formal and religious education.

Dr. Waheedah said the ultimate objective was to prepare young people to become job creators rather than depend entirely on paid employment, charitable donations or government assistance.

She urged Nigerian communities, particularly in Northern Nigeria, to explore similar initiatives to strengthen Almajiri education, stressing that sustainable solutions could emerge when communities organised their resources, skills and assets around clearly defined development objectives.

Rather than relying exclusively on government intervention, she encouraged communities to take practical steps towards addressing educational and economic challenges through collective action, responsible management and productive investment.

She also disclosed that the organisation receives support from the Central Bank of Indonesia to establish businesses within Islamic boarding schools across the country, particularly in drinking-water production, waste recycling and biogas generation from cow waste.

Expressing interest in promoting similar partnerships in Nigeria, she proposed collaboration among financial institutions, universities and Islamic organisations to support Almajiri schools and other community-based educational initiatives.

Under the proposed arrangement, financial institutions could provide funding, universities could contribute research and technical expertise, while Islamic organisations could coordinate implementation within their communities.

BUK, Financial Institutions Express Support

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, Professor Haruna Musa, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Professor Ahmad Muhammad Tsauni, said the model presented by Dr. Waheedah offered significant opportunities to address poverty, educational disadvantage, unemployment and other social challenges.

He noted that Nigeria continued to grapple with challenges including out-of-school children, youth unemployment, orphanhood and the displacement of vulnerable populations, stressing that Waqf could provide sustainable responses when managed with transparency, accountability and a clear development strategy.

The Vice-Chancellor said the university would collaborate with Dr. Waheedah by providing postgraduate fellowships to study her development model and exploring institutional partnerships to facilitate research, knowledge exchange and practical application.

He also disclosed that the university had concluded plans to offer the guest lecturer a pro bono appointment to engage with students virtually, enabling them to benefit from her experience.

The chairman of the occasion, Dr. Sirajo Salisu, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Summit Bank Limited, also announced plans to support outstanding graduates and provide professional guidance to students.

Salisu said the bank planned to offer automatic employment over the next five years to the best graduating male and female students in Islamic Banking and Finance or Economics, subject to the university’s decision on the selection arrangement.

He further offered to engage voluntarily with undergraduate and postgraduate students every two weeks to share his professional experience and help prepare them for future career opportunities.

Experts Advocate Integrated Almajiri Education

Discussing the implications of the model for Almajiri education, Professor Binta Tijjani Jibril, a former Director of the International Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIIBF), advocated an integrated system combining Qur’anic instruction with vocational training, entrepreneurship and professional education.

She said school-based enterprises could generate income, reduce operating costs and equip learners with practical skills, while stronger governance and community participation would improve the sustainability of Almajiri institutions.

Professor Jibril also identified digital and financial technologies as opportunities for mobilising resources, strengthening accountability and extending the model to communities with limited resources.

Similarly, the Director-General of Economic and Social Reforms Coordination in Gombe State, Dr. Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido, called for practical action to translate Waqf principles into sustainable solutions for education, healthcare, employment generation and community development.

He noted that Islamic history offered examples of charitable endowments being used to meet public needs, urging individuals, families and communities to organise their charitable contributions around specific development priorities.

The lecture highlighted the potential of Waqf, when supported by productive investments, vocational education and effective management, to evolve from a traditional charitable practice into a sustainable instrument for social transformation.

For Nigeria, particularly the North, the Indonesian experience offers a framework for rethinking Almajiri education by preserving its Islamic foundation while creating economic opportunities that help schools sustain their operations and prepare children for productive and dignified lives.

Indonesian Scholar Urges Waqf-Based Model to Transform Almajiri Education in Nigeria