The Senate, on Thursday, urged the Federal Government to formulate policy to integrate Almajiris into the educational system to discourage them from street begging.

The call followed a motion by Sen. Sankara Abdullahi and 26 other senators on the menace of street begging and need to rehabilitate street beggars.

Abdullahi, in his lead debate said begging in Nigeria appears to be intractable and overwhelming as beggars are now found everywhere .

He said beggars in recent times appear to be a new trend of beggars popularly known as corporate beggars.

He said street begging does not only affect geographical and social structure of urban areas, it also portrays the country in a bad image to tourist and foreign investors.

He said street begging, had become a worrisome socio- economic challenge in addition to been a serious menace and liability on the Nigeria populace.

He said the phenomenon takes heavy tolls on the lives of teenagers, who engage in the act and are, therefore, out of school.

Senators, who spoke on the motion, described street begging as a major challenge.

The senate therefore called on the federal government to set up vocational training centres to provide beggars with alternative means of livelihood thereby making useful to the society.

Contributing to the motion, Sen. Rochas Okorocha (APC-Imo) said beggars in the country should not be neglected, noting that they should be supported and assisted to survive.

He said there was need to consider their plight given their disadvantage positions in the society.

He said there were time bombs waiting to explode, if left unattended to, noting that efforts must be made to salvage them especially in education.

Sen. Sabi Abdullahi (APC-Niger) also collaborated the need to salvage the rising sorry state of beggars in the country. (NAN)

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