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Beggars to Get N7,000 Monthly Allowance in Jigawa

Oghogho Obayuwana

Succour may have come for the physically challenged in Jigawa State as the new Governor, Sule Lamido, has announced a N7,000 monthly survival allowance for beggars in the state

In his inaugural address, the new governor, who is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared an agricultural emergency throughout the state and outlined a series of people-oriented measures, which he noted would take Jigawa out of the "uniquely unmitigated state of underdevelopment."
Regarded as the poorest in the federation, Lamido said rather than take to begging, any physically challenged person from Jigawa State will henceforth be paid N7,000 monthly as survival allowance.

The governor also announced a "free and automatic education" regime for all women of schooling age. Shortly after being sworn-in by the state Chief Judge, Justice Tijani Abubakar, at about 11.30 a.m., Lamido created the Jigawa Development Delivery and Intervention Corps (JIDDIC), which he said would help actualise the goals of "Democratic Humanism" meant to bring about social justice, industrial transformation, communal cooperation and inclusion of the poorest of the poor in governance with the aim of delivering the irreducible minimum public service originally declared by his party, the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP).

The inclusion of the poorest of the poor, according to him, will be the first task of the JIDDIC, a volunteer scheme that will be put in place immediately under the personal supervision of the governor to facilitate delivery of services on a rapid response basis. "The imperative of this scheme resides in our recognition that a fundamental problem of governance has been the gap between promises to deliver and the delivery of promises," Lamido said.

Unveiling his four-point agenda for the state, the new governor said: "The deliberate and urgent mobilisation of critical sections of our society, particularly women and children, against certain attitudes towards personal and environmental hygiene, maternal and child health care, girl education and agricultural productivity techniques, among others, is imperative. That is why a comprehensive rehabilitation of primary and secondary schools, clinics and hospitals must be undertaken immediately."

Lamido spoke extensively on his restoration plan, which he said stemmed from the vision of the late Malam Aminu Kano's school of social development, saying: " It is about time government and governance in Nigeria concentrate on eliminating some of the historical nightmares of the Talakawa (the poor). That would be the only adequate tribute to the memory of Malam Aminu Kano for whom democracy is the rule of the common people, the poor and the illiterate."

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