3 May 2009

Several decades after the nation's capital city was relocated from Lagos to Abuja, indications show that history is on the verge of repeating itself. This is especially obvious in view of the array of unpleasant social phenomenon that has persistently bedevilled the Federal Capital Territory prominent among which is street begging.

Street begging is one of the social problems confronting Abuja, Nigeria's federal capital city. The large army of street beggars can be found in strategic locations in the city such as markets, churches, mosques, post offices, sporting grounds, recreational parks, traffic light junctions, the Federal Secretariat, among many others.

Investigations by Sunday Trust revealled that the number of beggars that besieged Abuja has increased in recent times. Umar Shamsudeen, who resides in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja said that "as a result of the pronounced poverty ravaging the country and other historical and cultural factors, the army of beggars is increasing by the day. They range from children, destitute, disabled, the old, widows, refugees and even some who can be called professional beggars. As their numbers swell in the streets, they constitute a very serious security problem as well as a national embarrassment."

Perhaps, equally more pronounced is the array of able-bodied men and women who have taken up this seemingly business as they position themselves at walkways and motor parks where they solicit financial assistance to enable them travel to their destinations. They would pretend that they are stranded due to financial constraints.

Apart from the ravaging poverty in Nigeria, many factors have been identified as being responsible for this growing national malaise. Olusina Ogunkoya, an Abuja, attributed the ugly phenomenon to the absence of articulate government welfare programme for the elderly and the destitute. The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is yet to introduce a sound social policy that would take care of the needs of the vulnerable and the poor. It is not just enough to outlaw begging in the city but something concrete must be done to ensure that the destitute do not besiege the city to beg for alms.

Jeremiah Mbak, a civil servant at the Federal Secretariat, attributed the increasing incidence of begging in the FCT to laziness and greed on the part of some beggars. He maintained that some Nigerians do not like to work. They want to reap where they did not sow. Apart from the fact that street begging constitutes social malaise, it is also eyesore particularly to foreigners who visit the nation's capital for business transactions or tourism. The efforts of the National Tourism Development Commission might not likely yield the desired results in making Nigeria a tourist haven for foreigners until street beggars are taken off the streets.

Again, chances are that beggars could be willing tools in the hands of disgruntled individuals to foment troubles in the society. Some of the beggars have been reportedly found with guns and other dangerous weapons, which they alleged were given to them for safe keeping by their masters. Similarly, they can easily be recruited as armed robbers or social miscreants.

Furthermore, some of the beggars in the streets have become victims of ritual killers. Others have been killed or maimed for life in road traffic accidents.

But while reacting to the ugly predicament, the new boss of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Dr. Abubakar Yabo said that the board was working in concert with the FCT social development secretariat to completely rid the city of the menace of beggars. In his words, "together with the social development secretariat, we are poised to get to the root of this problem and part of the effort is the apprehension of these beggars and their reparation to their state of origin. Whenever we apprehend any beggar, we would contact the liaison office of the state of such beggars who would assist us in sending them back to their states.