Kano state government has resumed exercise for evacuation and repatriation of street beggers in the state.
Daily Telescope recalled that similar exercise was conducted in the state sometimes in 2020 by a Committee headed by the present Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Murtala Sule Garo.
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However, the Task Force Committee on Evacuation and Repatriation of Beggers that is addled with responsibilities of conducting the exercise this time around is being headed by the former Secretary to the State Government, Dr Rabi’u Suleiman Bichi.
The committee has recently paid a courtesy visit to the Emirs of Karaye and Rano, Alhaji Ibrahim Abubakar Karaye and Ambassador Kabiru Inuwa respectively.
This is contained in a statement issued by a member of the committee representing Kano State Ministry of Information, Alhaji Sani Abba Yola.
At Karaye Emirate, the Emir, Alhaji Ibrahim Abubakar has directed District, Village and Ward heads in his domain to support the committee to end street begging in the state.
The decision to set up the committee, the statement added, was an indication of the good intention of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje administration to curb the menace of streets begging in the state.
Briefing the Emir on the Committee’s activities, the Chairman of the committee, Dr. Rabiu Suleiman Bichi said that northern state governors had resolved to end street begging in view of its social implication on the society.
He explained that the decision of the state government to set up the committee was informed by the resolution of governors in the region to ban street begging in their respective states last year.
Bichi, however, lamented that the outbreak of Coronavirus and the lockdown imposed nationwide by the federal government forced the stoppage of the exercise.
The chairman added that the unfortunate development did not stop the state government from maintaining its stance on ending street begging by setting up the committee to ensure its total ban.
At Rano emirate, Dr. Bichi told Emir of Rano, Ambassador Kabiru Inuwa that most of the beggers particularly children that are roaming the streets of Kano are not indigenes of the state.
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He lamented that such children are being brought to the city of Kano in the name of acquiring Qur’anic education with no proper plan for their accommodation and feeding.
Bichi assured that as soon as the committee commences operation, such children would be sent back to their respective states of origin.
Responding, the Emir, Amb. Kabiru Inuwa said the committee came at the right time when the problem of begging was becoming more worrisome.
The monarch commended governor Ganduje for his effort to eradicate street begging in the state and assured of the emirate’s support and cooperation to the committee.
Daily Telescope recalled that this is not the first time such committee is put in place for similar exercise.
Sometimes in April 2020, similar committee headed by the present commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Murtala Sule Garo repatriated some Almajiri pupils to their respective states of origin.
The committee was set up then to conduct the exercise following increasing cases of Coronavirus in the state.
According to the then chairman of the Committee, a total of 251, 893 Almajiri pupils were identified across the eight Metropolitan Local Governments of the state.
He said out of the numbers only 79,411 were Indigenes of the Kano state, while 178,472 were non Indigenes.
He said most of the non-indigenes pupils were from the neighbouring states of Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi, Jigawa and Katsina.
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Although the committee had succeeded in repatriating some of the children to their respective states of origin, however the exercise was halted due to the public outcry that greeted it.
Daily Telescope observed that, less than a year after they were taken back to their states of origin, the Almajiri pupils returned to Kano streets.
