Tackling the menace of begging in the north

There is no doubt that this is a shame; more shameful are their parents, the immediate society and of course the state and region that produces them. Of course, those in the villages where they come from have often hidden under some unconvincing ideology to justify their shame. For them, the religion of Islam is […]

There is no doubt that this is a shame; more shameful are their parents, the immediate society and of course the state and region that produces them. Of course, those in the villages where they come from have often hidden under some unconvincing ideology to justify their shame. For them, the religion of Islam is amenable to such practices of siring a child, raising him up for a year or two and then sending him forth into the wider world in pursuit of Qur’anic education. This way, the child becomes productive thus charts his own course in the expectation that later in life he becomes a relying point for his family. It has been proven that this practice is anything but Islamic. Wherever you go in the country, you are assailed by their nuisance and even though the boys are apparently blameless, you still feel the guilt that you are part of a society that has made begging a normal blameless pursuit. Of course, I know a few of them who today are proud owners of provision stores, owners of a fleet of transportation vehicles and so on. But how many social criminals have been made out of them? Which is why I have come to find the practice repulsive and unbecoming.

Why must our kids go begging before they can be shaped into responsible citizens? How sure are we that they would become responsible citizens anyway? Why bring them into the world if only to unleash them on the streets to live a beggarly and despondent life? More worrying, I have noticed that the cure north tops the list of kid beggars, and other adult beggars in the country and beyond for that matter. They are mostly Hausa/Fulanis. No doubt, there are beggars from some minority tribes but they are mostly restricted to their locality. One thing that is common is that they are mostly Muslims. If truth must be told, few states or communities in the north namely Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Bauchi and to some extent, parts of Zazzau emirate are purely responsible for this national shame. If these places would close their borders, I can assure you that widespread begging will be confined to those localities. Jigawa state in particular is the purveyor of this national shame.  If you do a small census in your area, you will find that many of the kid beggars are from Jigawa. The governors of these states must advocate for a role for traditional rulers in the nation’s constitution so that dealing with this menace will be their responsibility.

Agreed, some people might be excused to beg, but what about the able-bodied and the under-aged kids?

Why is it that begging, in the shameless manner it is done in this clime is uncommon in other Muslim countries even in this continent? Why is the Nigerien, who is apparently more economically disadvantaged and most vulnerable not in the business? The thing is that this is our shame, the shame of ignorant and careless parents, the shame of a people and the shame of a nation. More painful is that solutions to it have not been realistically explored. Since we know the source of this malaise, the state governments concerned should see it as a priority to bring it to an end. Thus, traditional rulers that have been yearning for constitutional recognition and role can easily be assigned this job. Through the traditional rulers, parents in remote villages and even in the cities who are, by the way the culprits, can be reformed through carrot and stick strategy as well as large scale mobilization and education. This can be achieved through the relevant emirate councils who remain closest to those parents concerned. The traditional institution has proven its efficacy in reaching out to the people; and with an additional constitutional back up, they have the capacity to nip this worrisome problem in the bud. Provide the resources, constitutional power and support to the traditional rulers and see how quickly they mobilize their subjects who would link up with the poor people and force them to take responsibility of bringing their kids up.

Those asking state governments to legislate against begging are missing the point. No legislation can stop begging and not even harmonizing the operations of local Malams or the Tsangaya system can deal with it. This is simply because we have a society that is largely disorganized and uneducated, a problem that makes legislation at state and local government levels very unlikely to solve the problem. Education, mobilization, carrot and stick as well as constant vigilance on the part of all and sundry, particularly the traditional rulers, are key to the problem.

Ahmed wrote from 114, Kashim Ibrahim Road, Maiduguri. He can be reached at [email protected]