Gov. Sule pledges to strike out street begging, issuess strict warning to parents

Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule

By David Odama, Lafia

Nasarawa State

 

Governor, Abdullahi Sule has vowed to wipe out street begging in the state even as he warned parents who subject their wards to begging in the name of Almajiri to desist or face the wrath of the law.

Governor Sule declared that street begging was a crime, adding that the rights of children must be protected as a bill to prohibit street begging, prosecution of parents would soon be in place in the state.

The governor added that there were about 10 million children in Almajiri system in the entire northern states, affirming that most of them serve as beggars and spending all their time on the streets begging.

Sule who spoke at weekend during an NTA programme on the concept of Almajiri system of education in Nigeria, explainined that the Almajiri system had been completely misunderstood.

Gov Sule said, “Government must establish that it is a crime to abuse a child, it is a crime to bring children to this world and send them to Almajiri system when you cannot take care of them.

It is a crime to send children on street begging, Parents must take responsibility, you can’t bring children to this world and dump them somewhere else and expect somebody to take care of them, so parents must not shy away from their responsibility.” Gov Sule declared.

While vowing that Nasarawa State Government under his leadership would make sure that begging on the street was a crime, the governor said that begging was not part of the concept of Almajiri system of Islamic education.

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On security, Gov Sule  announced that his administration was approaching the insecurity situation in three different dimensions which include providing job through agriculture, vocational and technical skills as well as ensuring that parents who send their children to Almajiri school are able to take care of such children.