The Senate has urged the Federal Government to formulate policy to integrate Almajiris into the educational system to discourage them from street begging.
The motion was pushed forward by Sen. Sankara Abdullahi and 26 other senators on the menace of street begging and need to rehabilitate street beggars. Abdullahi, in his lead debate, said begging in Nigeria appears to be intractable and overwhelming as beggars are now found everywhere.
Sankara Abdullahi said beggars in recent times appears to be a new trend, popularly known as corporate beggars. He said street begging does not only affect the geographical and social structure of urban areas, but it also portrays the country in a bad image to tourists and foreign investors.
Sankara Abdullahi explained that street begging had become a worrisome to the socio-economic challenge in addition to being a serious menace and liability on the Nigeria populace. He added the phenomenon takes a heavy toll on the lives of teenagers, who engage in the act and are therefore are out of school.
The Senators that supported the motion described street begging as a major challenge.
The senate, therefore, called on the federal government to set up vocational training centres to provide beggars with alternative means of livelihood thereby making
useful to society.
Contributing to the motion, Sen Rochas Okorocha of APC-Imo said beggars in the country should not be neglected, noting that they should be supported and assisted to survive. He said there was a need to consider their plight given their disadvantage positions in the society.
Okorocha added that begging is a time bomb waiting to explode, if left unattended to, noting that efforts must be made to salvage them, especially in education.
Sen. Sabi Abdullahi, (APC-Niger) also collaborated the need to salvage the rising sorry state of beggars in the country
