Katsina State Government over the weekend evacuated over 300 beggars from a piece of land belonging to the Advance Teacher’s College (ATC) in Katsina.
The state Commissioner for Sports and Social Welfare, Alhaji Sani Danlami, disclosed this while distributing relief materials to the affected beggars at the old Government House, Katsina.
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While addressing the beggars, Danlami said the state government would no longer tolerate their behaviours in which they turned the school ground as their homes as if they were internally displaced persons (IDPs).
He said the majority of the beggars who disguised as IDPs, were not from the frontline local government areas, but the government however decided to give each of them a bag of corn as a relief material in order for them to return to their homes.
“We met them at the ATC ground at night, counted them and took their details, including their names and local government areas of origin,” he said.
Alhaji Danlami said the evacuation became necessary as the condition in which the beggars were living at the school premises could not be condoned.
“They are not actually IDPs as the majority of them have admitted that they are only here to beg for food, and if that is the case, we have given them food items for them to return home.
“The government would not fold its arms and watch them living in that open place together with their children. That is completely unacceptable as they are often being harassed by some street urchins at night,” he said.
The commissioner said 29 of them are citizens of Niger Republic and appealed to them to return to their country after receiving the relief materials.
