Beggars and hawkers in Kaduna state took to the street yesterday to decry Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s Anti-Begging law.
The bill was assented by the Governor last week and the effect will be to ban Street hawking and begging in Kaduna state.
The Beggars have taken umbrage with this and have threatened El-Rufai stating that if the law isn’t revoked in 7 days, they would occupy the government house with large numbers.
The Beggars and physically challenged disrupted activities at the NUJ stating that they didn’t mind giving their lives to the cause.
They stressed that they could not be stopped from begging especially when an alternate income stream has not been created for them.
There were placards and the like some of which said ‘El-Rufai, before stopping street begging, pass state disability bill’, ‘Fulfil your campaign promises before banning street begging’, and ‘Give us 10 percent job opportunity as you promised before banning street begging.’
Chairman of Concerned Citizens with Disabilities, Julius Shebang stated that the law was against a prior arrangement that an alternate means of income and provision for the beggars welfare would be presented before the law.