Beggars stormed the secretariat of the Kaduna Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists along Muhammadu Buhari Way, on Wednesday with a demand that the state Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, should fulfill his campaign promises before placing a ban on their activities.
The beggars noted that before the state could ban them from begging, the governor should pass the State Disability Bill into law .
The beggers said they would not stop the strike until their requests were met.
According to them, the governor should give them the 10 per cent job opportunity as promised during his electioneering in 2015.
They carried placards with inscriptions such as “El-Rufai before stopping street begging pass state disability bill,” “El-Rufai, fulfil your campaign promises before stopping begging in Kaduna” and “Give us 10 per cent job opportunity as you promised before stopping street begging.”
The Chairman, Concerned Citizens with Disabilities, Julius Shemang, who spoke on their behalf, said the passage of the street begging and hawking bill without palliatives measures contradict the agreement the beggars reached with the state government.
He said, “We are therefore writing to register our concern before you and the state House of Assembly that the signing and passage of the street begging and hawking Bill that is not in line with Article 4 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will create more hardship for our members.
“Before the 2015 general elections you mentioned during your campaign that if elected as governor of the state you will make life comfortable for our members by signing our bill with a commission. This has not been done and we will continue the strike until the governor accede to our request.”
The governor had last week assented to the bill banning street begging and hawking in the state.
However, efforts to get his reaction to the beggars’ strike were futile. – Punch.
