Beggars on hold as Kaduna rolls out rehab centre

Investigations have revealed that many street beggars in Kaduna are aggrieved due to the inability of the state governor to provide an alternative for them before he announced the ban on begging. El-Rufai had explained that he imposed the ban to protect the lives and property of citizens after the suicide bomb attack in Zaria […]

Investigations have revealed that many street beggars in Kaduna are aggrieved due to the inability of the state governor to provide an alternative for them before he announced the ban on begging. El-Rufai had explained that he imposed the ban to protect the lives and property of citizens after the suicide bomb attack in Zaria and had no intention of causing distress. He noted that the ban would be fully enforced after the Kakuri rehabilitation centre was rehabilitated.
A cross section of beggars, men and women, young and old interviewed by Daily Trust said the lack of finance pushed them into street begging. However, the chief of the disabled in the beggars colony located along Kano Road, new extension, which serves as home to over 300 beggars, Alhaji Abdullahi Sama’ila, said whatever God has ordained will surely happen and it is left for the people to either accept it, or try and fight what God has brought upon, whether good or bad.
“We have been living in this place since when (Alhaji Ahmed) Makarfi was governor of the state, about 14 years now. I have given birth and raised my 18 children in this place and I am proud to say that none of them are beggars – they only go to school, both Western and Islamic and come back home,” he explained.
Sama’ila said since he became bankrupt and his business collapsed, he had to resort to begging to take care of his family. “Look at my shop in front of the gate, most of us here detest begging, but we have no option,” he explained, adding that sometimes they get help from government but it is not very often, and so they cannot depend on that.
“The past government used to give us an allowance of N20, 000 every month for the upkeep of the place, right now, we have no water, as you can see, the water from the tap is coming in trickles, there was a time an individual said he would sink a borehole for us, but we have not heard from him and our major source of water is the well which dries up during the dry season,” he added. 
The chief stressed that they are really facing a lot of hardship since the governor placed a ban on street begging. “We are law abiding citizens, and as such, we cannot go against the law of the land and it is with the help of well-meaning individuals who bring us token amounts of money and food that we have been surviving,” he narrated.
Speaking on the allegation that the beggars’ children are recruits of Boko Haram, he said: “We are very shocked and disturbed about this allegation, even when some of us went out to work, children referred to them as Boko Haram, which is very sad and we are calling on the governor to quickly retract the statement. We do not have anything to do with Boko Haram.”
He added that: “During the governor’s campaign, we used to wake the whole house up at 3 am to pray for the emergence of Malam Nasir el-Rufai because he promised to look into our plight which he has now failed to fulfill. So we are calling on him to fulfill his promise, if today we are given capital to start our businesses, I can assure you that the beggars in this house will not be seen on the streets.”
Alhaji Abdullahi Ismail, another beggar, intimated that they were not surprised at the governor’s pronouncement because during his campaign visit, he had informed them that if he won the election, he would ban street begging. He however expressed worries that no provision has been made by the state government for people living with disabilities.
“We are keeping our own part of the agreement by sending away beggars who are not from Kaduna State. We will then submit the list of people living with disabilities from Kaduna State to the governor and if he refuses to fulfill his part of the agreement, we are going to embark on a protest,” Ismail said.
“We however, call on all our members to respect the government and stop street begging as we are doing everything possible to see that the government provides them with a means of livelihood. I also want to use this opportunity to call on the state government not to only focus on disabled beggars but also on people who are strong and healthy. When you visit the banks, big restaurants and shopping malls, you will see able-bodied men and women begging there,” he said.
Daily Trust recalls that some beggars in their hundreds took to the streets of Kaduna to protest the ban, threatening to take legal action. They vowed that they will not leave the streets until the governor provided them with alternative means of livelihood. Threatened to press charges against the governor for equating them with ‘terrorists’ by banning them after a bomb blast they knew nothing about.
After a series of protest, El-Rufai was forced to issue another statement explaining the ban. He said the ban on street begging and hawking was for the safety of beggars, hawkers and other residents following the suicide attack that rocked Sabon Gari local government secretariat.
The governor stressed that his decision was not meant to unleash pain on beggars and hawkers or vulnerable groups, but to protect citizens generally. He further appealed to the people to see reason with the ban and cooperate for the safety of all.
In a bid to reach a truce with the beggars, the governor paid a visit to the Beggars’ Colony and Kaduna State Rehabilitation Centre where he disclosed that his government had concluded arrangements to rehabilitate and train beggars in various skills and assured that the interest of a group who think they have the right to beg for alms cannot override the security of over eight million people living in Kaduna State.
El-Rufai stated that the Kakuri rehabilitation centre has the capacity to house and train 500 physically-challenged would soon be ready for the training of the beggars affected by the ban.
He clarified that no beggar would be repatriated on the grounds that they were not Kaduna indigenes, adding that anyone resident in the state would be given equal opportunity under his administration.
Special Assistant to the governor on media, Mr. Samuel Aruwa did not respond to calls and a text messages sent to him by this reporter to comment of the matter. However, a reliable source in Government House confirmed that the ban was put on hold until the rehabilitation centre was ready.