The Kano State Bureau of Statistics (KSBS) has rejected claims by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that over two million underaged children are living as street beggars in the state, describing the figure as misleading and inconsistent with verified official data.
This is contained in a statement by the Director-General Kano State Bureau of Statistics, Dr Suraj Sulaiman, on Monday in Kano.
He said the bureau’s attention was drawn to a publication by the Global Improvement of Less Privileged Persons Initiative (GIOPPINI), which alleged that over two million street urchins sleep in unsafe and unhygienic environments across Kano metropolis.
Sulaiman stated that the claim did not reflect the findings of an official survey conducted by KSBS across eight metropolitan Local Government Areas in the state.
‘The bureau’s mapping exercise identified a total of 6,573 street beggars.
‘Children aged 0 to 10 years account for 7 per cent, representing 457 individuals, while youths aged 11 to 20 years constitute the largest demographic group at 56.4 per cent’, he said.
He explained that the findings suggested that street begging in the state was more closely linked to youths vulnerability, poverty, unemployment and limited access to education, rather than the scale of child begging portrayed in the NGO’s report.
He stressed that poverty remained the primary driver of street begging in Kano, with unemployment and low educational attainment also contributing significantly.
The director-general further emphasised the need for regulatory compliance in statistical activities, noting that all organisations conducting surveys within Kano State must obtain prior clearance and official approval from KSBS.
He called on GIOPPINI to publicly provide evidence of approval granted by the bureau for the survey on which its publication was based.
The bureau said the bureau demand that the NGO retract the misleading publication and issue a public correction within 48 hours, warning that failure to comply would compel it to pursue all legal remedies available under the law regarding misrepresentation of official statistical information and unauthorised statistical activities.
According to it, the disclaimer followed a report by an online newspaper titled, ‘Over 2 Million Street Urchins Sleep In Unsafe Environment In Kano – NGO’.
‘In the report, GIOPPINI’s Executive Director, Mohammed Ali-Mashi, described the situation as alarming, warning that millions of underage children were exposed daily to health and safety hazards’, Sulaiman said
He quoted Mashi as saying that the estimate was derived from what he described as a thorough research and scientific survey conducted by the organisation.
While acknowledging that street begging remained a serious social concern, Sulaiman said that policy responses must be guided by credible and evidence-based data.
He added that the Kano State Government under the leadership of Gov. Abba Kabir-Yusuf, had declared a state of emergency in education and introduced interventions aimed at addressing the root causes of vulnerability among children and youths.
