By Agboola Bayo
Ibadan
Oyo state government is to evacuate beggars from all the major streets in and across the 33 local government areas of the state.
This was disclosed by a member of the state Inter-Religious /Inter Ethnic Committee,
Alhaji Kunle Sanni, while briefing journalists at the end of the committees meeting in Ibadan presided over by the Oyo state deputy governor, Otunba Moses Adeyemo.
Sanni said this was part of the measures put in place by the state government to
arrest the influx of Boko Haram members into Oyo as well as to check activities of criminals that may be hiding under the pretence of being a beggar.
While reading the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, Sanni declared that the state government had concluded arrangement to evacuate the beggars in all major streets and cities across the state to check the menace of crime and other social problems.
“The meeting which had in attendance of representatives of various ethnic groups and religions including Alhaji Kunle Sanni (Muslim), Bishop Kehinde Stephen (Christian), Chief Fayemi Fakayode (Indigenous Faith) and Muktar Lukman (Hausa) resolved that “beggars should be taken off the streets of major cities as that violates the accepted norms and religious beliefs in the society.”
Sanni emphasised that having understand that begging contradicts the teachings of Islam, the Governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i, banned street begging and “this has resulted to the increasing in the influx of beggars into Oyo state.”
The communiqué also added that “proactive measures should be taken on the issue of Fulani herdsmen and should not be limited to farmers/ Fulani Bororo in the state.
“The committee viewed with great concern the rising incidence of rape and kidnapping in the state and that we stand by the government in whatever measure taken to check mate the crises via the state. A multi-dimensional approach should be applied by the government, looking at the relevant sociological perspectives to analyse the menace of beggars in Nigerian cities.”
