Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State has blamed parents for the high rate of child beggars, otherwise known as Almajiris, on the streets of major towns in the northern region of Nigeria.
He said parents were guilty of abandoning their responsibilities in bringing up children under the guise of religion and sending them far from home to seek Islamic knowledge without anything to support them.
The governor made this observation when he played host to the new State Comptroller of Immigration, Tamuno Oyedeji, in Minna.
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Governor Bello stated there were enough Muslim Clerics spread across the country and that parents have no reason whatever to send a child far from home in other to acquire Islamic education.
He described the development as worrisome and unacceptable as these children are left without care, adding that the state government would do all it could to protect such vulnerable children so that they don’t become menace to the society.
“We are also fine tuning some laws in this regard with the hope that it would bring enduring solution to the problem. But in the main time, we have decided to send these child beggars on the street back to their parents”, the governor added.
He also pledged to sustain the joint patrol of the Immigration Service in the state in order to curtail illegal migration from neighboring Niger and Benin Republics.
Bello called on officers of the service to always be on the alert and pay attention to entry flights into the country, especially those returning pilgrims, in other to apprehend those who might sneak in illegally.
He promised to assist the State command of the Immigration service with logistics to boost its monitoring and surveillance across the state.
The new State Comptroller, Oyedeji acknowledged the continued support of the state government to the Immigration service and assured that the service would continue to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure sustainable peace and stability in the state.