The Kwara State government has said that some physically challenged persons in the state have turned down job offers by government and instead preferred street begging.

It is recalled that the state government recently began a clampdown on street beggars leading to arrest and prosecution of some of them in the state.

Following this development, some physically challenged under the aegis of concerned persons with disability, protested their colleagues’ imprisonment.

They alleged, among other issues, that government had failed to address their plights by not providing jobs, a situation which they said forced some of them into street begging for survival.

Speaking with journalists on assessment of some state government projects ahead of democracy day celebration tagged: “Democracy dividends tour”, in Ilorin, the state Commissioner for Social Welfare, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Samuel Bamisaye, said that the recent protest by the physically challenged  was politically motivated, saying the law banning street begging had been in place since 2006.

“There are some people that have been offered jobs, but because they believe begging is more profitable, they refused to work,” he said.

Also speaking, the Supervisory Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Alhaji Nuhu Magaji, said government in collaboration with the Bureau of Statistics would conduct census to determine the number of physically challenged persons in the state with a view to addressing their plights.