Kaduna beggars accuse state govt breach of agreement
Kaduna beggars accuse state govt breach of agreement
//Eddy Akon, Kaduna//
Following signing into law a bill banning street begging and hawking in Kaduna by State Assembly, Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPD), Kaduna State Chapter, yesterday, staged a warning protest to register their grievance against the law.
They were appealing to the state government to retrieved the law already passed on street begging pending the time every modality will be put in place as agreed.
Addressing newsmen at the Secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Kaduna Council, Chairman of JONAPD, Mr. Julius Shemang, affirmed that the Association is ready and on the brink of embarking on repelling protest if their plights are not put into consideration by the state government.
He reminded the governor of his promise to sign bill affecting JONAPD into law to give members comfortable life coupled with his assurance that street begging and hawking will not be banned until solutions were made, as well as establishing Zakat Committee under Bureau for Islamic affairs.
The chairman added that the law on begging and hawking bill by the State House of Assembly is also a contradictory to the Assembly’s fine-tuning agreement and graceful applaud consensual backing of their presented 13 points memo.
He noted that although the law will be effective from September 2016, the actions of the government and the legislature, are against Article 4 of the United Nations Convention on disabilities as well as deceived foreign stakeholders, because it grossly violated UNCRPD and Kaduna State citizens with disabilities.
“We will protest the passage of street begging bill into law without provisions for our teeming members and the signing and passage of our state disability rights bill with a Commission.
“JONAPD accepted in a resolution passed at a joint meeting of Saturday, May 7, 2016, with disable campaign organizations of Governor of the State, Nasir El-Rufai, “street begging and hawking law” by the State Government was indicted as it contradicted their agreed solutions prior coming into effect.
“Your Excellency again boosted our hope when you told a congregation in your remark that your administration will do the needful to protect the interest of people living with disabilities in the State vis-à-vis our state Disability Rights Bill.
“We want to know what provisions are in place for our members between Wednesday and Friday, May 13, 2016 otherwise, we will protest to register our concert and grievances”, he declared.
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