John Adams in Minna
The decision of the Niger State government, last Thursday, to ban street begging afresh in the major cities of the state such as the Minna, the state capital, Suleja, Kontagora and Bida, appears to be having the desired effect.
The ban was first imposed seven years ago, in August 2013, during the past administration of Governor Babangida Aliyu, through an Executive Bill passed by the House of Assembly and assented to by the governor.
In announcing the fresh ban, the government gave two reasons for its decision to send the beggars out of the streets.
The Commissioner for Information and Communication, Alhaji Mohammed Sani, said the decision was informed by the rising insecurity situation in the state, and the need to curb the influx of the beggars from neighboring state as a result of similar laws that had forced them to relocate from such states.
Announcing the total ban, the commissioner said: “We are not banning almajiri system of education but they (almajiri) must not go on the street for begging. They are free to attend their Qu’ranic school but must not go to the streets to beg in whatever guise.”
This decision to enforce the law was informed by similar ban in some neighboring states, which the government believed might have triggered the influx of this group of people to the state.
To ensure full compliance, a committee was set up by the government to fine tune the modalities for the implementation of the policy to ensure that it does not fail like previous arrangements.
The Commissioner for Information said anyone caught violating the law “either on the streets or elsewhere” would be arrested and prosecuted in line with existing legislation adding that street beggars found not to be indigenes of the state would also be arrested and transported to their states of origin.
“We are putting in place a lifetime structure that will stand the test of time, street begging is a menace that we should all join hands to stop. Those who are not from Niger state will be evacuated and taken to their states
“We will collaborate with other states to ensure the success of the policy. We now have the political will to ensure the policy is implemented to the letter,” Idris declared.
Idris said there is a synergy among governors in the northern part of the country to put a stop to street begging in whatever form because of the dangers inherent in the practice, which unfortunately is not Islamic.
Also reacting to this new policy, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Nasara
Danmalan said Niger State could not be a dumping ground for beggars.
“We must have the courage and the political will to enforce this law this time around”, he said, adding, “because of the ban on street begging in other northern states there is now an influx of beggars to the state. We as a government will not allow that, the law is a welcome development.”
Danmalam declared ,”It is something we must do to keep the state safe and to keep everyone in the state safe.”
Prior to the announcement of the fresh ban, begging had become a social menace. Everywhere on the streets of Minna, whether at road junctions, major markets, supermarkets, restaurants, filling stations, hospital gates and other public places, beggars could be seen in their numbers.
Men, women and children, regardless of age, whether under the rain or sun, they were there looking forward to receiving a gift for the day.
They took whatever was offered – food or money – as they approached everyone they sighted. The situation and the rate of begging, especially among the teenagers before now was alarming, and it was worst in most restaurants and other eateries in Minna.
As customers ate, they would monitor every hand going into the mouth, and pray fervently for the remnants, and if God answered their prayers, the customer would hardly wash his hands before the beggars would snatch the plate away.
As a result of this phenomenon, restaurants and eateries in Minna decided to engage the services of some private security guards to control the activities and nuisance of these beggars.
The situation was better imagined than experienced as every supermarket or filling station one went to within Minna and the three major cities, the story was the same.
They besieged their “customers” either on arrival or at departure.
They had no specific time for their begging activities. Anytime you visited most of these public places, they were there and according to a lecturer in one of the tertiary institutions in Minna, who did not want his name in print, one wondered what time the teenage beggars spent at the Islamic schools, the purpose for which they claimed to have migrated to the state in the first place.
“Even if they are allowed to beg, that should be after their Islamic school classes, but now you see them all over the place and at all times, moving in their numbers. Sometime when you ask them who is their Mallam (Teacher) they don’t know.
“I think some of them came to Minna just to beg but not to acquire Islamic knowledge, which should be the primary aim. The situation is actually disturbing”, he said.
They came from different northern states like Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kano, Jigawa, and some others. From interaction with this group of people, Sunday Sun reporter gathered Gbagy or Nupe natives, the two major tribes in the state, was found among the beggars.
Despite this, a former Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Amina Musa Gwar, had told newsmen while briefing them on the activities of her ministry that about N26million was expended to reunite 16 female almajiri (teenage beggars), who were repatriated from neighboring Sokoto State.
However, before the total ban of the streets begging last week, the governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, had at different fora expressed reservation over the influx of the beggars, majority of who were teenagers.
The governor said the issue of street beggars was a sad situation, which was not peculiar to the state alone but requires urgent and farreaching attention.
The governor particularly frowned at the practice of parents to send their children and wards to far places to acquire Islamic education, stressing that there was no justification for it.
“It is sad when you see very young children between seven and 10 years come from faraway places like Jigawa State to Minna, Niger State, to supposedly acquire Islamic education without any parental care.
“There is no justification for parents to send their children to far places to acquire Islamic education because today there is no local government area or Ward in Nigeria without Islamic school where the children can study.
“It is an act of irresponsibility on the part of parents who hide under religion to send their children for Islamic education far away from home, which is where they can be given adequate comfort and care,” he said.
Governor Sani Bello then promised to set up a committee to advise government on the activities of Almajiri in the state, promising that the government would soon start repatriating the almajiri back to their various states.
This move by the government seems to have received the backing of some Islamic scholars within and outside the state.
Dr. Ibrahim Husam Iman of the Department of Languages, Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna, had before now kicked against the practice of begging in the north, saying that Islam discourages laziness and begging.
He argued that begging impairs human honour and virtues.
In a paper titled “Street Begging; Causes and Remedies: an Islamic Perspective”, Husam Iman noted that Prophet Mohammed said begging could only be permitted for only three categories of people: “A person who becomes debtor or guarantor of large amount of money to reconcile people. Such is allowed to beg for the period of being in debt till he pays off. Whoever suffered from a disaster or a misfortune that affects his property, like fire, flood and armed robbery, the needy and a person who cannot satisfy his necessary needs except by begging.”
Ibrahim pointed out that according to Islamic belief, “no Muslim should ever be hungry and no Muslim must beg. This means that as a Muslim, the community’s responsibility is to assist those who are genuinely in need of any kinds including the almajiri (teenage beggars).”
Ibrahim, however, said that there are different types of street begging in the society today, especially in northern Nigeria. He said: “For those living in most cities in northern Nigeria will agree that apart from destitutes and almajiri, there are other beggars.”
These he pointed out include “those begging to support mosque building projects, payment of medical bills and stranded travelers, among others.”
He submitted that “begging is similar to scratching the flesh off your face; so if someone wants to save his face he should avoid it except asking from the ruler or asking in case of dire needs”.
Ibrahim stated further that it is disappointing to see that the streets of cities have been over run with school-age children, barefoot, and in rags braving the cold weather roaming around to the benefit of their Qur’anic teachers and out of negligence of poor or indoctrinated parents.
He opined that the problem of street begging cannot be resolved without the involvement of Qur’anic teachers, “who need assistance from government and NGOs to keep their disciples off streets.”
Other residents believe that the banning of the beggars was long overdue because of they had become an eyesore and embarrassment not only to the state but the entire northern region.
On his part, Ibrahim Musa, a legal practitioner enjoined all stakeholders to support the government’s decision to rid the state of ugly menace of street begging.
“We cannot continue like this because these people whom we see as beggars today can be a time bomb for the society tomorrow. They can be weapons in the hands of our dubious politicians. I support the government’s decision but it should not stop at removing them from the streets alone. The government must engage them in a productive way so that they do not become nuisance to the society.”
It is to be noted that part of the government’s plan put in place by the Aliyu Babangida administration was the integration of no fewer than 15,821 Qu’ranic teachers in the 8,210 identified Qu’ranic schools in the state. In addition, the government planned to integrate a total of 586,821 pupils in those schools into the formal education system to enable them acquire western education.
To this end, 150 schools were identified to be used as the pilot scheme with six schools selected from each of the 25 local government areas in the state and the idea was to ensure quality and affordable education for this set of people in the society and to discourage street begging.
However, the exit of Governor Babangida Aliyu from office in 2015 saw the return of the beggars in their large numbers, and ever since then, it has been business as usual with every available space on the streets of Minna and other major cities taken over by these “special people” until the hammer of the fresh ban fell on them.