Kano council rejects ban on street begging

By Toby Prince

The Kano Council of Ulama has rejected the proscription of street begging in Kano State.

The group, headed by Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil, condemned the ban and described it a mere pronouncement that will not see the light of the day.

“The right steps have to be followed in banning street begging and these include firstly, the Quranic clerics involved have to be identified. Because there are street beggars who are Quranic students, there are beggars who are sent by their parents from the rural areas to come and be begging in the urban centres, there are also beggers engaged by some physically challenged individuals,” he said.

He said all these forms of street beggars need to be identified and each one be addressed accordingly. But they have not done that.

“Also, the Hizbah used to make arrests and when they arrest them they just keep them and cannot properly even feed them.

“More so, you cannot stop begging in the state without joining hands with the neighbouring states. If you don’t join hands with the neighbouring states, for example in the General Hospital in Kano, you have people from Katsina, Bauchi, Niger, Gombe, or Zaria or even Jos, you budget for just the state in the Hospital but it is about five states that benefits from the health services rendered

“You have not considered them, they have not been considered by their states, no budget has been made for them.

“So, for the ban to work there has to be a cooperation between the government and the Quranic clerics. You have to sit with them and understand why they engaged in begging, get some statistics, know the total number of those engaging in street begging among them.

“If you identify all these, it is then that you will come to know exactly beggars that are not Almajiri Quranic students.”