…assures more economic opportunities to cushion economic pressure
The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, on Monday granted the request of the Muslim community in the State to ban street begging across the State, which some persons have taken as a profession.
Obaseki approved the request made by the Chief Imam of Benin, Abdulfatah Enabulele, who led a delegation of Muslim faithful on a courtesy visit to the Governor, in Government House, Benin City, as part of the Eid El-Fitr celebration.
Mallam Enabulele who commended the Governor for the support he extended to Muslims during Ramadan, offered prayers for the progress and peaceful co-existence of all Edo residents.
Enabulele, however, decried the growing number of street beggars in the State and said that the Islamic religion does not allow people to take to begging as a profession.
“These professional beggars are imported into Edo State and have been constituting a nuisance to themselves and the environment,” he added.
According to Enabulele, Ramadan is a period of fasting, prayer, spiritual renewal and a time to reflect on such values as discipline, piety, kindness, honesty and a time to attain uprightness.
Responding to the request of the Chief Imam to check the menace of street begging, Obaseki said: “In the next few months we will not accept street begging in Edo anymore and parents whose children are not in school will be arrested.”
The Governor added: “The lessons of Ramadan must not be lost after now. We must learn to be tolerant and disciplined, as any nation that does not rely on discipline will not progress.”
He expressed worry that the country will go through a lot of economic pressures in the months ahead, and assured that his government would continue to seek ways to create more economic opportunities to reduce the tension arising from the rising prices of food items in the country.
“As a government we will never deceive our people, we monitor food prices regularly and know that some families cannot feed themselves. Money is not the problem, the problem is leadership and followership, people want short cut to wealth.
“We all have to change our attitude. The next couple of months will be hard and my concern daily is how people will feed themselves. As a government we must create the environment, provide the infrastructure and secure our people to do their business,” Obaseki said.
He explained that his administration decided to increase workers’ minimum wage on May Day 2022, to protect them from the harsh economic condition prevalent in the country.
