Nigeria, Feb. 12 -- Zawiyya Islamic Centre at Kanwuri in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, is a typical northern Nigerian Quranic institution where pupils learn to memorise and recite the Islamic holy book.

With its solid and well-painted classrooms, hostels and a small mosque for daily prayers, the centre can pass for a standard tertiary institution in Nigeria.

However, it is not. Here, the pupils are available for hire for cheap labour and exploitation.

Wearing a long, flowing white kaftan, Audu Kaura, called Malam Audu by the pupils, walked with this reporter through a mini hall behind the centre's mosque.

A16-year-old Sadique, one of the pupils in the overcrowded learning centre, had led the visitor to the teacher after the report...