Senator for Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, Sen. Shehu Sani says that the decision by the Abdullahi Ganduje-led Kano State Government to ban street begging by Almajiris would achieve nothing.
He stated this in a Tuesday evening tweet.
According to the state government, the move to ban street begging by children known as Almajiris was to consolidate the free and compulsory primary and secondary schools education in the state.
“When Almajiri are caught begging, it is not only that beggar that is caught, but his parents or guardians. Such parents or guardians would be taken to court to face the wrath of the law,” Ganduje was quoted as saying in a statesman signed by his media aide, Abba Anwar.
Reacting, Sani said that no law no matter how punitive could stop street begging.
The senator explained that many states that tried to legislate against begging in the last 20 years found it useless in the long run.
For begging to become a thing of the past, he said, the economic, social, religious and cultural contributing factors must be addressed.
Sani wrote: “A Law no matter how punitive can’t stop or end begging. Many states tried it in the last twenty years, it never worked.
“The Economic, Social, Religious and Cultural contributing factors must be addressed.
“A law enforced can disperse them for a while and the factors will return them.”
See tweet:
A Law no matter how punitive can’t stop or end begging.Many states tried it in the last twenty years,it never worked.The Economic,Social,Religious and Cultural contributing factors must be addressed.A law enforced can disperse them for a while and the factors will return them.
— Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) February 25, 2020