The Menace of Street Begging in Kano: Beyond Stereotypes, Toward Solutions

The recent video and online debate about street begging in Kano have once again pushed a long-standing social problem into the national spotlight. As expected, the discussion quickly degenerated into regional blame, political mudslinging, and dangerous stereotypes. Yet, beneath the noise lies a serious issue that demands sober reflection, honesty, and practical action—not emotional reactions or ethnic finger-pointing.

Street begging is not unique to Kano, nor is it exclusive to Northern Nigeria. From Lagos to Port Harcourt, Benin to Ibadan, visible poverty manifests daily in different forms. However, Kano’s situation carries a distinct character because of its long-standing intersection with the almajiri system, urban migration, weak social welfare structures, and political neglect. Pretending otherwise does no one any favors.

What makes the Kano case particularly troubling is the scale and visibility of child beggars—many of them extremely young—left to roam major roads, markets, and places of worship. These children are exposed daily to abuse, exploitation, hunger, disease, and criminal influence. Whether one agrees with the terminology or not, it is irresponsible to ignore the security implications of allowing thousands of uneducated, desperate, and socially detached children to grow up without structure or hope.

That said, it is equally dangerous to casually label beggars as “future terrorists” or reduce the issue to religious extremism. Poverty does not automatically breed violence. What breeds violence is systemic neglect, absence of education, lack of economic opportunity, and state failure. When children are abandoned by the state, abandoned by society, and exploited by adults, they become vulnerable to anyone offering food, belonging, or purpose—whether criminal gangs, extremists, or political thugs.

The politicization of the issue does not help either. Blaming the problem solely on the ruling party in Kano or using it as ammunition in APC-versus-NNPP or North-versus-South arguments misses the point. Street begging in Kano predates the current administration by decades. Multiple governments—military and civilian, PDP, APC, and others—have failed to confront it decisively. Selective outrage only exposes hypocrisy, not solutions.

Equally misleading is the attempt to deny the problem by comparing Kano to Lagos or claiming that “begging is worse in the South.” This is not a competition. Poverty is not a league table. The presence of beggars in Lagos does not erase the reality of begging in Kano, just as Kano’s problem does not absolve other states of theirs. Nigeria’s crisis is national, even if it wears different faces in different regions.

At the heart of the issue is political will. Kano State—and Nigeria as a whole—has no shortage of policies, reports, or task forces on child welfare and poverty reduction. What is missing is consistent enforcement and long-term commitment. Short-term raids that round up beggars, only to release them days later without rehabilitation, education, or support, achieve nothing. In fact, they often worsen the problem.

A sustainable solution must include:

• Free, compulsory, and enforced basic education, especially for vulnerable children.

• State-run shelters and rehabilitation centers with proper funding and oversight.

• Economic support for extremely poor families, tied to school attendance and skills acquisition.

• Regulation and reform of informal religious schooling, not its demonization.

• Public enlightenment campaigns that discourage giving money to street beggars while promoting structured charity.

Most importantly, leaders must stop seeing poverty as a political tool. A society that normalizes begging—whether around markets, highways, or even political residences—has quietly accepted failure. Charity alone cannot fix structural injustice. Handouts without empowerment only recycle misery.

The debate around street begging in Kano should not be about who is worse, who is to blame, or which region is more morally superior. It should be about protecting children, restoring human dignity, and building systems that give people a future beyond survival.

Until Nigeria confronts poverty with the seriousness it deserves, videos like this will keep resurfacing—and so will the arguments. But the children on the streets will remain, growing older, angrier, and forgotten. And that is the real menace.