Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has signed an Executive Order prescribing 10 years imprisonment for parents whose children engaged in street begging in the state.
Mr Sule stated this on Wednesday in Lafia during the signing into law the State Anti-Kidnapping Prohibiting Law 2020 and Child-Protection Executive Order.
The governor has also banned street begging in the state and said that government would upgrade the Tsangaya system by enrolling its students in public schools.
EduCeleb.com reports that Tsangaya is the format of learning in traditional Islamic and Qur’anic schools, where children learn under teachers in a sort of boarding system. Students in such schools are popularly called Almajiri, especially in Northern Nigeria.
The move by the governor is coming barely a day after a closer decision was reached by the Kano State government.
Sule noted that those children would now be enrolled in schools.
“Those currently begging will be taken off the streets and enroll in schools to make their lives worthwhile.
“It is only those who are currently begging on our streets that government will provide for, so any persons who bring children from other states again will be jail if caught,” he said.
Mr Sule said that government would not punish the children involved in begging, but would sanction the people who sent them to beg.
“Without sounding immodest, the order, apart from prohibition of street begging, provides punishment for parents who out of irresponsibility threw away their children for street begging,” he said.
He clarified that the government was not against the Almajiri system, but was against street begging under whatever guise.
Sule explained that the order was part of the implementation of the Child’s Right Protection Executive Order, 2005 of Nasarawa State pursuant to section 5 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.
He, therefore, called on parents, Tsangaya instructors and stakeholders to comply with the order as violation would not be tolerated.
Meanwhile, the Council of Ulama in Kano has criticised the move by government to ban street begging without adequately understanding how such things work.
EduCeleb.com reported that it challenged the government to engage stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the order.
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