Ban of Street Begging and Peddling in Kano Metropolis, A Nice Idea (1)

By

Abubakar Yahaya Muhammad

abusallari@gmail.com

 

Let me start by giving Kudos to the Kano State Government under the leadership of His Excellency Engeneer Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso for banning another two social atrocities in Kano Metropolis i.e. street begging and peddling. This uncalled for behaviour which demeans the cultural values and dignity of my beloved ethnic group ‘Hausa’ in the eyes of the world should have been banned since by the previous governments but due to the fear by some leaders with defeated psyche who couldn’t ban it as neither Islam nor common sense encourages begging in any form.

 

In the year 2000 after the introduction of the political Shari’ah in some northern states, Kano state executive council on Wednesday 15th December 2000 banned the street begging as announced by the then honourable commissioner of information Nura Dankadai, and today with a more focus the same government added with the banning of street peddling. But the subsequent government who came under the Shariah Umbrella neglected the issue and politicized it and made the promise to feed the Almajirai (Destitute) which led to the flow of more people from rural and neighbouring states to the city of Kano and started begging.

Street begging, otherwise known in Nigeria as Bara and Maula , is a social, economic and environmental menace that has become highly visible in Nigeria urban centres, particularly the Northern part of the country. The situation becomes worrisome because not only adult population are engaged in such distress act but even the under aged children (Mudanssir, 2010) cited in Ogunakan and Victor (2011).

Some people are attributing the street begging to social, cultural, religious and political impetus; Babs Elewa in his article the menace of Child Street begging in northern Nigeria said this:

 “Whichever school of thought one belongs to, it is pertinent to draw the attention of political, traditional/cultural and religious leaders in Northern Nigeria to this untoward social behavior, on the need to put a stop to this practice. It is unfathomable that in this age and time when kids who should be in school or doing something positive with their lives are left to roam about the streets, all in the name of whatever social/cultural/religious or political nuances. As the future of any society can only be guaranteed if it takes adequate care of its youthful population or future generations”.

Dr Aliyu Tilde in his article Begging in Northern Nigeria and its solution said:

“We need to classify beggars according to the nature of their begging for ease of analysis. I have identified two classes: beggars of necessity and beggars of choice. Beggars of necessity are those who are victims of circumstances that are beyond their control and require the intervention of other people or government for survival. The circumstance could be urgent, on a large scale, mostly an emergency that engulfed a nation or a town, like war, flood, hunger, fire, epidemic, etc. In this case, we will designate this form of beggars of necessity as group or collective beggars.

The second begging of necessity is associated with afflictions at the level of individuals: it could be a stranded traveller short of fare; the sick, the orphan or the old in need of care. Both cases represent individual emergencies engendered by pecuniary reasons of birth, age, accident, disease, death, etc. Under this category we have orphans, the old, the physically challenged, widows, destitute, etc. Their situation is chronic, long term and if they are found begging it is largely due to negligence of relations or their governments. If they have to beg, their begging is considered legitimate.

 

This category of the needy has a special place in Islam, more so when the Holy Prophet (PBUH) himself grew up as an orphan. In one of the early chapters to be revealed, amidst the hardship the Messenger was facing before the Meccan aristocracy, God told him not to lose hope. He reminded him of his childhood days and instructed him to treat the orphan kindly and not to turn away the beggar: "Did He not find thee an orphan and protect (thee)? Did he not find thee wandering and direct (thee)? Did he not find thee destitute and enrich (thee)? Therefore, the orphan oppress not; therefore, the beggar drive not away." (93:6-10). We bear witness that the Prophet has throughout his life remained committed to this instruction. When he was parting from this world, he entrusted us with feeding and clothing the needy as we will all stand to account for our wealth before God. His companions also obliged, amidst the hardship of economic sanctions imposed by the Meccan aristocracy to the extent that they gained the public commendation of God: "Far removed from it (Hell) will be the righteous who giveth his wealth that he may grow (in goodness). And none has with him any favour for reward, except as seeking (to fulfil) the purpose of his Lord, Most High." (92:17-21)”

 

Today in Kano metropolis unfortunately you can find a healthy man who can ridge more than 100 ridges a day begging and also a woman healthy who should be in her matrimonial house nurturing her children to become better citizens also begging, why should this continue? Kudos once again to the Kano and Lagos States governments.

However, Dr Tilde continued to argue that:

“These adult beggars of choice are the problem. They are not the only physically challenged in the Northern society, but while others are out of our view because they are contented with the effort of their relatives or have engaged in one form of vocation or another, the adult beggar of choice took the streets in ingratitude to our effort and due to his shameful laziness. Such beggars who are over ninety percent of our street beggars must not attract our sympathy or gain our pity. Personally, it is my policy not to patronize of them. And I call on other Nigerians not to do the same.

 

There is, therefore, no solution to this category of beggars except legislation and forceful removal from the streets. States can give them a deadline to evacuate, find something else to do or deport them to their home states. At arrival, their home states should transport them back to their local governments where they will be supported by their relations or from public funds where necessary. If any beggar is seen on the street again then he should be tried and sentenced accordingly. We just have to stand up to this responsibility. Nothing else. Begging as a livelihood is haram under the Shariah, Sayyid Sabiq has shown. In fact, these pests cannot afford to beg in their villages because of the collective shame that doing so will bring to his family and relations. The whole thing then dies naturally”.

However, with regard to those in need, who beg due to necessity of life, who are old aged and have no one to cater for them, the Kano state government should fashion out a strategy to help those peasants, though the micro assistance of ten thousand naira being given to women is reducing the level of poverty in the state, as when a woman gets something doing, she will help the husband and the children.

On their part, our billionaires and millionaires should purge their minds and pay out Zakat, it is the third pillar of Islam, if today our business moguls would give out Zakat appropriately, believe you me in Kano state there would be no more person wallowing in poverty and completely ravenous. Our Ulamas, the Zakat and Hubusi Comisssion should intensify their campaigns of collecting Zakat and channell the wealth to the right individuals, this will help to eradicate the poverty in Kano State and the northern Nigeria at large.

We should also consider taking care of our relatives and neighbours as compulsory, because if we neglect them and refuse to help, definitely their problems will in one way or the other ruin us and our families and later affect the larger society, just as we can see today with the case of street begging, particularly for the teenage children. If in every family each well to do person will take care of one or two children of relatives in their villages, they might have not been in the urban centers begging to earn a living through illegitimate way.

We hope the State Government would use the recently introduced craft schools in the 44 local governments of Kano state to train the physically challenged people who are among the street beggars i.e. Blinds, Leppers, Cripples and so on.

Just of recent, the Kano State government banned the indiscriminate sell of drugs in Kano and now banned the street begging, just with the aim of sanitizing our societies and protecting our youths who are our future. I believe that if such programs would continue in Kano state in the next 10 years, Kano is going to be the best State in Nigeria, our youths are going to be self reliant.

I look forward to receiving your Comments, Corrections and Criticisms.

Abubakar Yahaya Muhammad  

M.A Student of Communication and Media Studies,

Yasar University Izmir, Turkey.