The Kano Council of Ullamas has given a hard knock on Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje over his banning of streets begging in the State, describing it as an action in futility which was hurriedly taken.
The Council said the government was not serious about it because the right steps had not been taken on the issue.
The Kano Chairman of the Council of Ullama’s Sheik Ibrahim Khalil said, “Our opinion is on three to five issues, firstly,
if we view the history of banning street begging since the time of Sir Ahmadu Bello, when they were making efforts to ban street begging but were opposed by the Ulama because they saw it as a way of keeping people away from Quranic or religious studies.”
Ibrahim Khalil said that the issue was politicized then, and also during the reign of Governor Audu Bako, Alhaji Muhammadu Ibrahim, the father of Prof. Ruqayya in 1971.
He said the main problem is that it doesn’t last.
“Even the government that says it has barred begging is not serious about it. It will ban it and after a while, it will return.
Just like the Hausa saying that ‘The king’s instruction lasts only seven days’”, he said.
He added that, “The right steps have not been followed and begging cannot stop because the correct measures have not been put in place.
“The right steps to follow in banning street begging include firstly, the Quranic clerics involved have to be identified.
Because there are street beggars who are Quranic students, there are beggars who are sent by their parents from the rural areas to come and be begging in the urban areas, there is also begging engaged in by some physically challenged individuals.”
He added that all these forms of street beggars need to be identified and each one be addressed accordingly.
“Secondly, the Hizbah used to make arrests and when they arrest them, they just keep them and cannot properly even feed them. More so, you cannot stop begging in the state without joining hands with the neighbouring states.
“If you don’t join hands with the neighboring states, for example in the General Hospital in Kano, you have people from Katsina, Bauchi, Niger, Gombe, or Zaria or even Jos, you budget for just the state in the hospital but it is about five states that benefit from the hospital.
You have not considered them, they have not been considered by their states, no budget has been made for them,” he noted.
