By Sanni Onogu
Abuja (Precise Post) In a bid to curb street begging the Senate on Thursday urged the Federal Government to formulate a policy that would integrate almajiris into the educational system, thus discouraging them from being used for street begging.
It called on the federal and state governments to set up vocational training centres to provide beggars with alternative means of livelihood, thereby making them useful to the society.
These resolutions were arrived at by the Senate following a motion titled: “The menace of street begging and need to rehabilitate street beggars”, sponsored by Senator Abdullahi Danladi Sankara, at plenary.
Sankara, in his lead debate, noted “with concern the exponential increase in the scourge of street begging and the nuisance it constitutes on the streets of major cities across the country.”
Sankara, the senator representing Jigawa Northwest, enjoined the Senate to be aware that although street begging is a global urban problem, “the situation in Nigeria appears intractable and overwhelming, as beggars are now found everywhere, especially at motor parks, religious centres, road junctions, venues of ceremonies and other public places.”
He said in the past, beggars used to be persons with physical and mental challenges or grossly indigent.
“In recent times, there appears to be a new trend of beggars in town, popularly known as corporate beggars, who take advantage of the sympathy of the society for the less privileged to remain jobless and at times perpetrate crimes in the name of street begging,” Sankara said.
He lamented that while for example, the system that produced the almajiris is still very much in existence, its economic support tools have been discarded with the neglect from the government.
The lawmaker said street begging does not only affect the geographical and social structure of urban areas, “it also portrays the country in a bad image to tourists and foreign visitors.”
He said street begging is a worrisome socio-economic challenge, “in addition to being a serious menace and liability on the Nigerian populace.
“It takes a heavy toll on the lives of teenagers, who either act as guide to beggars or even engage in the act themselves and therefore are out of school.”
Most senators decried the growing phenomenon of begging across the country.
They called for urgent measures to be put in place by the Federal Government to stem the tide.
