“
By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Beggars, destitute and Almajiris have decried hunger and starvation for lack of “Sa’adaka” (Gift Money), apparently owing to the inability of residents to come up with the usual exchange of cash by hand.
Some of them have however breath a sigh of relief following the supreme court victory in favour of recirculation of the old currency till December this year, with high expectation that it would ease their situation.
Speaking to our correspondent through an interpreter, some beggars in kano and Katsina roads, who gave their names as Mohammed, Isa, Jibril Abdullahi, Ango Sanusi, Unusal Abubakar among others lamented the hardships, adding that those who have been assisting them were no longer forthcoming to their aid.
According to them, some of their colleagues called it quit when they could no longer cope with hunger and when it became obvious that people were no longer coming to them for Sa’adaka for a long period of time, and feeding became a beat difficult.
However, some of the privileged ones who heard of the court judgement expressed happiness, saying they returned to the road yesterday when the news came to them that the supreme court has ruled against the policy responsible for their hunger.
Accordingly, some of them also described the supreme court judgement that returned the policy back to status-quo as “Allah’s judgement for the poor and destitute like themselves”, saying they’ve never experienced hardships as they’re currently going through.
Efforts to speaks to some of their leaders failed due to inaccessibility and transportation problem in the state due to cash crunch.