The Kano Council of Ullama’s 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 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 politicised 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 neighbouring 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.
He further explained that “If you recall there was the case
of a man who just sent three of his children to the city to be begging for
sustenance because he wanted to place his new wife in the room they were
occupying. You can see that these kids are not Almajiris or Quranic pupils.
“Therefore, you need statistics of the real situation, know
the total number of the Quranic teachers, the total number of the Quranic
schools and their pupils, know exactly who the real Almajiris are first. You
will then know their needs understand their problems and then proffer the right
solutions. You can decide to cater for them or send them back to their homes.
“But you have not conducted all these. They have not
consulted people like us that have made efforts on the issue to hear our own
experiences, get our reports, those of Ndatsu in the past and those of the
times of Sir Ahmadu Bello to get a better solution.”
“To us at the Council of Ulama, the government cannot do it
and is not serious about it. They are just doing it to appease their masters
abroad, or get their money or some kind of noise making. Or they might have
been accused of something from somewhere for which they simply organise a
ceremony and that is all. That is our opinion”, Sheik Ibrahim said.
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