KADUNA State Governor, Malam Nasir El Rufai, recently drew the ire of beggars in his state when he threatened to pull them off the streets. The beggars, in return, threatened to pull down his government for daring to send them out of “business”. They reminded him how their votes made him governor.
Governor El Rufai had banned beggars and hawkers in the state for security reasons. The Boko Haram terrorists, who have been wreaking many parts of the North, had resorted to deploying beggars, hawkers, children and women as suicide bombers.
But a spokesman of the beggars association, Mallam Yahaya Makaho at a press conference in Kaduna on Monday, July 27 2015, recalled how they used proceeds from their begging to fund campaigns and rallies when El Rufai aspired for the governorship seat.
According to him: “Now, it would appear that we made a mistake. The governor wants to bring us down. He does not want us to live. He has chased us out of the streets and has made no alternative arrangement for our survival. If he refuses to heed to rescind on this decision, we shall make sure we bring down his government.”
Although Governor El-Rufai and the beggars recently reached a truce following the Governor’s visit to the Kaduna State Rehabilitation Centre and the government announced arrangements to rehabilitate and train beggars on various skills, Governor El-Rufai shouldn’t have allowed things to escalate.
He has the right to ensure the security of over eight million people living in Kaduna State but he should have concluded arrangements to train the over 500 physically challenged persons in the state and rehabilitate them before his pronouncement.
The mistake the governor made was in the manner he carried out his threat. He should have approached the beggars first through their representatives, explaining why the action had to be taken. At the same time, he should have unfolded measures to rehabilitate, resettle and give them alternative ways of making decent living while they are off the streets.
Many of the street beggars are quite mentally sound though physically disabled. Most of them will be willing to adopt a new lifestyle of productivity if government offers to train, equip and support them. Then, it will be easier to cater for those who are totally dependent on charity.
This should be our attitude to the less privileged members of our society nationwide. We must reorient ourselves to a new mental attitude of recognising the physically challenged as our collective responsibility to look after. They are also citizens with the right to vote and enjoy the dividends of good governance.
They are not to be swept away like refuse, just like that.
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