The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, says his administration is set to begin evacuation of street beggars who are not ready to accept decent and meaningful ventures.
Obaseki confirmed this while addressing 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.
The Governor stressed that in the next few weeks or months, he would no longer allow street begging in the state.
He said that his administration believes that basic education was the right for every child in the state.
“There are lots of farm settlements and more hands are needed to cultivate the lands,’’ he noted.
The governor said that anybody arrested for street begging would be evacuated to the farm settlement to work.
He noted 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 educational system in the state.
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.
