The persistent influx of street beggars and destitute into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and most states in the South West presents
The persistent influx of street beggars and destitute into the Federal Capital Territory and most states in the South West presents a worrisome trend, especially considering the perennial security challenges confronting the country.
The disheveled adolescent is among the thousands of young males who are under the tutelage of their Islamic teachers, who send them into the streets to solicit for alms. “Like my mother, I am also begging for money and food,” he said, adding, “I would have loved to go to school, but my father travelled, and that is why I am here.”
Indeed, the thriving nature of alms soliciting, which also involves young women, nursing mothers, and the like, makes a mess of the Lagos State law, which criminalises giving of alms to beggars with those who fall victim of the law liable for two years imprisonment without an option of fine. Many FCT residents believe that the last time Abuja witnessed a conscious effort towards creating a modern city devoid of miscreants and street urchins was between 2003 and 2007, when the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, served as the Minister of FCT.Not only did he restore the Abuja Master Plan, he also succeeded in sanitising the city. By the time he left office, FCT was clean, secure, and adjudged one of the most beautiful and secured capital cities on the continent.
From Ogbomoso and Ibadan, some disperse into other parts of the state, including Sabo, a large concentration of Hausa/Fulani community, as well as another such community in Ojoo, Iwo Road, and another large concentration at Akinyele, which houses what appears to be the largest pepper market in Nigeria.
“Information at our disposal showed the plans and desperation of non-Nigerians with no identity but masquerading as motorcycle riders to perpetrate evil across the South-West. You can hardly trace them, and we have it on good authority that they hold weekly meetings every Friday after their Jumat service at various locations to strategise on the best approach to perfect their sinister motives against residents of the South-West.
At their establishment, these centres offered a range of services, including counselling, vocational training, and medical care, aimed at empowering individuals to rebuild their lives. Located in the Ebute Metta area of the state, the Okobaba Destitute Home is littered with debris, including pet bottles, metal scraps, and disused food packs.
Also, section maintenance personnel at the home, Abdullahi Garba, lamented that residents of the neighbourhood dump their garbage inside the home. Garba explained that inmates have always been prone to malaria, and typhoid. The pathetic condition of the home is further underscored by a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Science, University of Lagos, Dr Augustine Okechukwu Agugua, who noted that the Okobaba home is different from Majidun for several reasons.
“Ideals should be defined as it has to do with minimum standards of human existence as they are obtained in most homes. Let the state government work towards those minimum standards and make it available to those people in such destitute homes. Let the Lagos State government see the issue of provisions for the destitute as an issue of rights, as what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. What goes to Majidun should also be sent to Okobaba.
The commissioner also informed that the government is collaborating with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation ; Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment , and the Lagos State Ministry of Housing, to empower the destitute through skills acquisition. “It also constitutes a major security challenge as some of them don’t have fixed home addresses. So, they end up sleeping under bridges and uncompleted buildings. Some end up getting involved in crimes.”
Ejiofor also blamed the development on leadership deficit saying: “Nobody has looked at destitution or alms soliciting from the aspect of security, but since it has become a problem, the government should devise ways of tackling it, and take them off the streets. Like street hawkers, many of them are criminals, and constitute security risks in the FCT and other states that they are,” Ejiofor said.
He wondered what had become of the FCT Department of Social Welfare, which was responsible for arresting, profiling, and deporting Almajiri and other street beggars. The Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre and Head, of Transparency International, Nigeria, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, also admitted that since El-Rufai completed his tenure as FCT minister, there have not been efforts to mitigate the influx of Almajiri and destitute into the city. This he said, has increased cases of criminalities in the city.
As crises continue to rock the Labour Party over the status of the Obidient Movement, the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 General Elections, Peter Obi, has said that the movement cannot be annexed by any political party.
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