The House of Representatives at its plenary session of Thursday 18th July 2019 declared child destitution and begging a national emergency and called on governments at all levels to ensure that children are provided with opportunities to access basic education as guaranteed by the United Nations Convention. The resolution followed a motion titled  “Need to Eradicate Child Destitution and Remove Beggars from Nigerian Streets through Provision of Standardized Education System and Improved Livelihood”.

Presenting the motion, Hon. Mansur Manu Soro (APC: Bauchi) stated that the menace of child destitution in most parts of Nigeria had become a matter of grave concern for the continued wellbeing of the country and was increasingly a source of national embarrassment. He also noted that the large number of children captured in the destitution net (most of whom could be found roaming the streets begging for alms or hawking at traffic spots) come at a huge cost to the nation in terms of loss of critical human capital and erosion of family values.

Hon. Soro added that despite the various religious and cultural value systems that frown at begging and abandoning children without proper care, some parents release their children to pass through such horrific conditions out of poverty and sheer abdication of responsibility. He also noted that Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the rights of Children requires every Member State to take all appropriate legislative, social and educational measures to protect “the child” from all forms of physical or mental violence, abuse or neglect.

Speaking further, Hon. Soro expressed concerns over the probable consequences of child destitution and street begging which range from kidnapping, sexual abuse to overall public insecurity. He also described the negligence by and indifference at all levels of government on child destitution as “condemnable.” He argued that while an immediate ban on child destitution and begging could worsen the situation and make the children more desperate, vulnerable and threatening to society, their continued existence, without a socio-economic plan poses greater danger to Nigeria’s collective wellbeing and security of its present and succeeding generations.

The House resolved to do the following:

• Urge affected States to comply with extant laws on Basic Education, especially the Universal Basic Education Commission Act by ensuring that all children between the ages of 6 -16 are given free and compulsory education;

• Urge the Federal Government and State government to create a department under the Universal Basic Education Commission to handle the Almajiri matters with adequate funding to construct a minimum of one Almajiri school in each of the electoral wards of the affected states by the year 2021 and also ensure that the Almajiri school curriculum is planned to include technical and vocational courses with long-term objectives of self-reliance and sustenance;

• Urge the Federal Government and State government to conduct an extensive enumeration and mapping exercise to, among other things, determine the location of the Almajiri schools, size and staff strength to ensure comprehensiveness of the policy;

• Urge the Federal Government and State government to immediately embark on comprehensive enumeration of handicapped persons and people with disabilities in the country and integrate them with the cash transfer component of the Social Investment Programme to improve their livelihood and commit them to stop begging;

• Call on the Office of the Vice-President to collaborate with relevant states’ institutions to conduct a census of Almajiri schools and headcount of the destitute children with the view to enrolling them in the on-going National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP);

• Further call on relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government to collaborate with the organised private sector, international donor partners and philanthropic high-net worth individuals to support the new education structure of the Almajiris; and,

• Mandate the Committee on Legislative Compliance (when constituted) to ensure observance of the said Resolutions.