DISABLED beggars in northern Nigeria’s largest city Kano have given the state government two weeks to rescind a ban on street begging or face protests. State authorities last month announced a ban on street begging, which they said had become an organised racket. The practice of begging for alms is widespread in Kano, the second largest commercial centre in Nigeria after Lagos. The giving of alms to the poor is one of the five pillars of Islam. – AFP