Kano Identifies 6,573 Street Beggars in Comprehensive State Mapping Exercise
The Kano State Bureau of Statistics has completed a mapping exercise identifying 6,573 street beggars across the state, providing crucial data for urban planning and social welfare policy formulation in Nigeria's second-most populous state.
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The Kano State Bureau of Statistics (KSBS) has concluded a comprehensive mapping exercise that identified 6,573 street beggars operating across the state, offering authorities detailed demographic data to inform urban planning and social welfare interventions in one of Nigeria's most densely populated regions.
The director-general of KSBS announced the findings of the bureau's systematic survey, which represents the first official quantification of street begging in Kano State. "The bureau's mapping exercise identified a total of 6,573 street beggars," the director-general stated, according to Peoples Gazette. The figure provides a baseline for policymakers addressing urban poverty and social protection in a state with an estimated population exceeding 15 million residents.
Data-Driven Approach to Social Welfare
The mapping exercise reflects a broader shift toward evidence-based governance in Nigerian states, where reliable demographic data has historically been scarce. Kano State, as the commercial hub of northern Nigeria, has grappled with visible street begging for decades, often linked to the Almajiri system of Islamic education, rural-urban migration, and economic hardship.
The KSBS survey methodology and geographic distribution of the identified beggars were not detailed in the initial announcement, though such exercises typically involve systematic enumeration across local government areas, market districts, religious sites, and transportation hubs. The relatively modest figure of 6,573 beggars in a state with a metropolitan population exceeding four million suggests either effective targeting of specific categories or definitional parameters that may have excluded certain groups.
Urban planning experts note that accurate demographic data on vulnerable populations enables more efficient allocation of social services. The Kano statistics bureau's work parallels similar initiatives in Lagos, Kaduna, and other Nigerian states seeking to modernize their approach to urban poverty management through digital mapping and biometric registration systems.
Implications for Policy and Resource Allocation
The quantification of street beggars carries significant implications for Kano State's social welfare budget and intervention strategies. Previous estimates of street begging populations in major Nigerian cities have varied widely, with some advocacy groups suggesting far higher numbers based on observational assessments rather than systematic enumeration.
Kano State has implemented periodic crackdowns on street begging in recent years, often citing security concerns and urban aesthetics. In 2019, the state government announced plans to evacuate beggars from the streets and repatriate non-indigenes to their states of origin, a policy that generated controversy among human rights organizations. The current mapping exercise could inform more targeted, less disruptive interventions focused on rehabilitation and economic empowerment rather than displacement.
The data also provides a framework for calculating the scale of resources required for effective social protection programs. If the state were to provide direct cash transfers, vocational training, or shelter services to the identified population, planners now have concrete figures for budgeting purposes. Regional bodies including the Lake Chad Basin Commission have emphasized the importance of social safety nets in preventing vulnerable populations from recruitment by insurgent groups, a concern particularly relevant in northern Nigeria.
Regional Context and Next Steps
Kano's mapping initiative occurs against a backdrop of increasing attention to urban poverty data across West Africa. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has promoted statistical capacity building among member states, recognizing that reliable demographic information underpins effective governance and regional development planning.
The success of Kano's exercise may encourage other northern Nigerian states to undertake similar surveys, potentially enabling regional coordination on addressing the root causes of street begging, including educational access, rural poverty, and disability support services. The Almajiri education system, which sees children from across the region sent to Quranic schools where they often beg for sustenance, remains a sensitive policy area requiring multi-state cooperation.
The KSBS has not yet announced whether the mapping exercise will be repeated at regular intervals to track trends, or whether the data will be disaggregated by age, gender, disability status, or geographic origin. Such granular information would enhance the utility of the statistics for targeted interventions. As Nigerian states increasingly adopt data-driven governance models, Kano's street beggar census offers a template for quantifying urban social challenges that have long resisted precise measurement.