The Kano State Government has arrested 200 street beggars and Almajiris for allegedly violating the law banning street begging in the state.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr. Zahra’u Muhammad-Umar, made the disclosure yesterday while repatriating the beggars in Kano.
Newsmen quoted the commissioner as saying that following the ban on street begging in the state, her ministry arrested the beggars and almajiris in the Kano metropolis.
She said 60 per cent of them were women, children, and men, while 30 per cent were almajiris.
“Some of those arrested sleep under bridge while some on the streets.
“Most of the beggars and almajiris are from Kaduna, Bauchi, Borno, and Yobe, among others while only a few are from Kano,” the commissioner said.
Muhammad-Umar noted that the decision to arrest the street beggars was to safeguard their future and make Kano state and Nigeria a better place for all.
“We noticed that because Kano is peaceful, that is why they came. It is very dangerous to leave them on the streets without knowing their parents, adding that bad behaviour is mostly found among the beggars.
“We will continue to arrest them to ensure sanity and rid the streets of all forms of crimes,” she said.
She explained that those arrested from other states would be repatriated to their states on March 16, and would be handed over to their parents.
The commissioner said the state would render some assistance so that the almajiris could go back to school.
In a related development, the commissioner said the ministry also rearrested a woman that was given N10,000 empowerment to enable her to be self-reliant but continued begging.
“I personally gave her the N10,000 from my hard-earned money and she promised to stop street begging. I will make sure she is prosecuted”.
She urged the government to join hands to look for a way forward to curb street begging and urged the people of the state, especially women, to take care of their children to be good citizens.
Muhammad-Umar called for legislation on the prosecution of street beggars.
The Kano State government on February 5, arrested 500 beggars and repatriated them to their various communities and also empowered 60 beggars with different entrepreneurial skills.
