Senator Shehu Sani said on Thursday that the acute poverty and begging culture in the north were as a result of social injustice and the systemic failure of political leaders of the region.
Sani, an activist and former senator representing Kaduna Central at the National Assembly, insisted that the poverty ravaging the region could not be addressed by legislation.
The former lawmaker in a statement on Thursday said, “Begging in the Northern part of Nigeria is a direct result of poverty, neglect, social, cultural and religious factors combined.
“The Northern political leaders should understand that it is impossible to compose a paradise without beggars in a hell they created over the years. Beggars are tragic victims and the direct result of a nation failed by its successive governing elites. You can’t end begging without ending poverty and illiteracy.
“You can arrest beggars but you can’t end begging as long as the social, cultural, political and economic factors that contribute to begging to exist.”