On Monday, Governor Godwin Obaseki addressed Muslim worshipers who paid a courtesy visit to Government House in Benin City.

Anyone whose children were not in school and were begging or trading on the street would be detained and prosecuted, he said.

Obaseki stated that he would no longer allow street begging in the state in the coming weeks or months.

He stated that his administration thought that every child in the state has the right to basic education.

“There are many agricultural settlements and more hands are needed to cultivate the land,” he said.

Anyone arrested for begging on the street will be taken to the agricultural settlement to work, according to the governor.

He made it clear that if the beggars refused to work, they would be sent to their home base.

He claimed that his administration had hired 3,062 teachers in rural towns to boost the state’s education system.

Abdulfatai Enabulele, the Chief Imam of Benin’s Central Mosque, had previously praised the governor for his administration’s progress.

Enabulele urged Obaseki to act quickly to address the threat of street begging and trading.

He went on to say that the act has the potential to disrupt the state’s peace.