Kano Resident Voices Outrage Over Almajiri Child Begging Crisis
A resident of Kano, Zafrullah Abdulaziz, has publicly expressed intense anger and frustration after witnessing a deeply distressing scene involving two very young children scavenging for food on the streets. His emotional outcry highlights the ongoing and severe issue of Almajiri street begging in northern Nigeria.
A Heartbreaking Scene in the Freezing Cold
In a powerful Facebook post, Abdulaziz described the moment that ignited his fury. "I am beyond angry. Yesterday, I watched a 2-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl scavenge for food in the freezing cold. Shekara biyu fa!" he wrote, emphasizing the tender age of one child. He questioned how society has reached such a point of desensitization, where toddlers begging for survival are met with indifference. "How did we get here? How have we become so desensitized that we walk past toddlers begging for their lives and feel normal," he lamented.
Condemning Justifications for Neglect
Abdulaziz was unequivocal in rejecting any possible excuses for this situation. He stated forcefully that neither poverty, tradition, nor religion can morally justify abandoning children to fend for themselves on dangerous streets. "Wallahi there is no excuse... not poverty, not tradition, and certainly not religion, that justifies throwing children into the streets to fend for themselves while the rest of us eat and sleep and breathe fresh air," he declared. He directed a stern message in Hausa to parents who subject their children to such suffering, reminding them of divine accountability.
A Call to Action and a Warning to Leaders
The Kano man framed the pervasive silence and inaction as a profound betrayal of shared humanity. He argued that public complacency towards the culture of street begging is corrosive. "A society that doesn’t protect its smallest, most vulnerable members is a society that has lost its way," he asserted, urging a shift from mere understanding to active demands for change.
Abdulaziz also issued a stark warning to political and community leaders who neglect this crisis. He characterized the situation as a "ticking time bomb" whose eventual explosion will lead to widespread regret. His plea, "Haba don Allah," underscores the urgency and moral imperative for intervention to protect Nigeria's most vulnerable children from further harm and indignity.
