The Governor Godwin Obaseki-led government of Edo State has said it will get rid of street beggars (Almajiris) in the state soon.
The governor said underage street hawking too will no longer be tolerated in the state, noting that his administration believes that basic education was the right of every child in the state.
He warned that the evacuation of street beggars who are not ready to embrace decent and meaningful ventures will commence in the next few weeks.
Obaseki said this while addressing the Muslim faithful who were on a courtesy visit to the Government House, Benin City, on Monday.
He warned that anyone whose children were not in school but on the street begging or trading would be arrested and prosecuted.
“There are lots of farm settlements and more hands are needed to cultivate the lands,” the governor noted.
The governor said that anybody arrested for street begging would be evacuated to the farm settlement to work.
Governor Obaseki stressed that if the beggars did not want to work, they would be sent back to where they came from.
On inadequate teachers, he said that his administration had employed 3,062 teachers in rural communities to enhance the educational system in the state.
In his remark earlier, the Chief Imam of Benin Central Mosque, Alhaji Abdulfatai Enabulele, commended the governor for his administration’s developmental stride.
Enabulele called on Obaseki to urgently take some drastic steps to check the menace of street begging and trading.
He added that the act was capable of disturbing the peace of the state.
