Authorities in northern Nigeria’s largest city have begun evacuating more than 5,000 street children seen as a “security threat” and a growing concern as an economic crisis forces more to fend for themselves.
Sharia police, the Hisbah, have carried out midnight raids on motor parks, markets and street corners in the regional capital, Kano, since the beginning of the year, evacuating children as they sleep.
“We have so far mopped up 300 of these boys from the streets and taken them into a camp provided for their rehabilitation,” Hisbah’s director-general Abba Sufi told AFP.
“Their continued living on the streets is a huge social and security threat because they are potential criminal recruits,” he said.
“They are a ticking time bomb that needs to be urgently defused with tact and care.”
In November, Kano State governor Abba Kabir Yusuf set up a committee to rid the…
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