In Kano, beggars target banks, eateries

The new begging strategy is fast gaining ground despite all efforts by the state government and non-governmental organisations to rid the state of this social problem. Women, children and men with different degrees of deformity can be seen at various spots on their mats or wheelchairs, waiting for people going in and out to give […]

The new begging strategy is fast gaining ground despite all efforts by the state government and non-governmental organisations to rid the state of this social problem. Women, children and men with different degrees of deformity can be seen at various spots on their mats or wheelchairs, waiting for people going in and out to give them alms.

An investigation by Pyramid Trust revealed that begging at these spots is more lucrative and less tasking compared to roaming about the streets and market places. At restaurants and snack joints, these beggars, mostly young boys, eat from the dregs of the affluent. They get food which ordinarily they wouldn’t have tasted in their lives.

Umar Abba an 11-year-old, who spoke to Pyramid Trust at one of these joints said, begging at these places was better than going from house to house. According to him, they were getting high quality and sumptuous foods to eat, adding that such foods could not be found in most houses. “We eat chicken and different snacks, including good foods at these food houses,” he said.

Abba further stated that people eating at such places were mostly generous, giving the young boys the dregs and, sometimes buying a full plate for them. There they were not getting much money, only the food, he added.

Some of the beggars waiting at bakery houses like Oasis and Baker’s Delight, said the ‘business’ was paying off as they were earning much from the charitable gesture of customers patronising the bakeries.

Malama Zulai, in her late 60s, said she always visisted all the way from Kano city to Tarauni in Tarauni Local Government area to beg for alms at Oasis Bakery. She revealed that prior to her coming to Oasis she was not getting much from her ‘business of begging,’ but now she made a lot.

Zulai would, however, not disclose the amount she was making before and what she is getting at the time of this interview. She said it was her secret.

Asked why she has decided to take begging as a profession, she said it was the only thing she could do as she was gripped by old age. She further disclosed that she was not begging because she wanted to buy food with it, but she was rather begging to take care of her other needs.

Malam Abdullahi Adam, begging at one of the banks in the city, said, like any other business venture, beggars also devised alternative means of getting more alms. “You know, things are changing and beggars are increasing in number. For us to survive, we must search for more avenues to get alms,” he said.

He disclosed that staying at the bank side was better because he was getting more as against when he was roaming the streets and markets. Like his female counterpart, Abdullahi could not disclose what he was getting in a day. “What we are getting is not something much,” he said.

Further investigation revealed that some of the beggars have no visible deformity, yet they beg. Reasons given by one of them was that there was poverty and since they had to survive, they would have to find means of getting money.

Another beggar at bank road Kano, Malam Sani Kabir, said he was drawn to begging when it became difficult for him to earn a living. He said, in a day now he could make up to N500, saying, sometimes, he made more than that.

Explaining the reason for choosing the bank as his begging spot, he laughed and said that was where the money was, remarking that to give out N20 or N50 would not be a big deal to someone that took a lot from the bank.

He added that even in the begging business there was competition and envy. “Sometimes, we hide our begging points to our colleagues so that we can get more if we are not many,” he said.

Recently the special adviser to the Kano State governor on Tsangaya education, Alhaji Aminu Ismail Sagagi, called on the Sardauna Foundation to address the issue of begging in the north, a menace which, he said, was no longer a tsangaya issue, but a social problem among the Hausa/Fulani community.