Streets Begging: Niger Govt Gives 5 Days Notice To Islamic Schools To Evacuate Almajiris Off Street

As part of efforts to protect the lives of little children,  the Niger state government has commenced issuance of five days notice to all Islamic schools across the state on it’s decision to ban  streets begging across the state.Chairperson of Committee on Continuous Mop-Up Exercise of Street Begging in the state and the Director General of the State Child Rights Protection Agency, Barrister Mariam Haruna Kolo, led members of the committee to issue letters of notice to teachers of Islamic schools across the state.

The committee , according to her was approved by the State Governor,Alhaji . Abubakar Sani-Bello aimed at enforcing the ban on streets  begging which carries stiff penalties for defaulters.

The members of the committee were ministries of Women Affairs, Education, Justice, and Secretary to the State Government( SSG’s)  office,as well as  SUBEB, NSEMA, SDG and the state  police command .

Barrister Mariam Kolo said that the notice was to notify all teachers of Islamic schools to take Almajiri children off the street, adding that street begging was contrary to section 17 of the state Child’s Rights Law.”Government is not stopping children from acquiring Islamic knowledge, the efforts is to protect the rights and dignity of children and protect them from various abuses and violence street begging exposed them to,” she said.

She explained that the state government was not against children acquiring Islamic knowledge, but was against parents sending their children to other states without catering for their feeding and their well-being.

According to her, parents sending their children to other states to acquire Islamic education must pay certain amount of money as fees to their teachers for feeding the children and keeping them in a decent environment as well as their upkeep.

The chairperson, Child Rights Agency  noted that once such provisions were made by parents, it would stop the children from going out to beg and keep them off the street and appealed to the general public to support government efforts.

She, however, advised the teachers to be guided as any child from their school found on the street begging, the child and the teacher would be arrested and prosecuted immediately.

Kolo noted that the exercise will be a continuous process, adding that government will continue to educate parents on the danger of sending their children to other states without catering for them.

One of the teachers , Malam Sani, while responding, promised to adhere to the notice and solicited for the state government’s assistance by providing them with decent accommodation to sleep.