In the heart of Nigeria’s capital city—home to opulent estates, government ministries and foreign embassies—a growing crisis continues to unfold on the streets and within quiet communities: the troubling rise of child begging. From busy intersections in Wuse to the quiet neighbourhoods of Gwarinpa and Life Camp, children, as young as four, roam barefoot, pleading for food, money or mercy. Their presence is no longer confined to traffic lights or mosque gates; they now knock on doors, loiter near supermarkets and approach unsuspecting residents in residential areas, report NICHOLAS KALU and GBENGA OMOKHUNU
A city under siege by innocence
Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and symbol of Nigeria’s progress, is slowly becoming a city where desperation is visible on every street corner. The desperation is clearly seen in the eyes of barefoot children with cracked lips and sunburned skin, palms extended in supplication. From bustling intersections to quiet estates, from the marble floors of supermarkets to the gates of churches and mosques, the capital is under quiet siege—not by criminals, but by the innocence of children begging for food, money and survival.
They are boys and girls, many under 10. They show up in neighbourhoods early in the morning, loiter near Automated Teller Machines (ATM) points, wander around markets and public parks, and trail shoppers at plazas in Wuse, Gwarinpa, Jabi, Nyanya and beyond. Some knock on compound gates in residential communities, offering prayers in exchange for leftovers.
Others stand on intersections such as Berger, Garki and Area 1, dangerously weaving through traffic with bowls or plastic containers in hand.
It’s a growing crisis. It’s not just about poverty. It’s about safety, accountability, neglect and the soul of a nation, many Nigerians feel.
“They come in groups, even at night,” residents are alarmed.
“I see them every day. They come in groups, children aged maybe six, seven, sometimes with babies on their backs. One night, around 10:30 p.m., I heard a knock on my gate. It was a small girl asking for rice. I cried that night. Where are the parents? Who’s watching these children?” Mrs. Veronica Udoka, a resident of Lugbe said.
In estates in Lokogoma and Jikwoyi, residents share similar stories. What once appeared as a downtown problem has now crept into middle-class neighbourhoods and shopping complexes.
“You walk into a pharmacy or supermarket in Apo or Wuse, and a child is waiting outside, eyes hollow, hands stretched,” said Adewale Bakare, a civil servant. “It has become part of our scenery. But that’s the tragedy, and we’ve become numb to it.”
A disturbing evolution
Child begging is not new in Nigeria. But in Abuja, what is new is its sheer scale, frequency and pattern of infiltration. No longer confined to highways or public markets, children are now embedded in residential communities, church premises, mosque courtyards, petrol stations and even hotel parking lots.
A survey by one of our reporters in areas including Karmo, Gudu, Utako and Mararaba revealed that most of the children are not accompanied by adults. Many don’t speak English or any of the local languages of the capital, suggesting they may have been moved into Abuja from other regions. Some older children appear to operate in groups, coordinating movements and taking turns begging at strategic points.
In many cases, they are not just hungry, they are at risk. Social workers report increased instances of children being physically abused, exposed to drug environments and exploited by criminal elements under the cover of begging.
The Women Affairs Secretariat (WAS) of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) said it is implementing child-centred programmes and projects toward building a better future for all children in the FCT.
The Mandate Secretary of the secretariat, Dr Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi said this at the 2025 National Children’s Day, in Abuja.
Benjamins-Laniyi explained that WAS has coordinated various interventions and life-impacting programmes for children in the FCT.
She identified some of the programmes as the advocacy against Gender-based Violence (GBV) and review of guidelines for the operations of orphanage homes in the territory.
The gesture, according to her, is to give hope to children, especially the vulnerable ones and those with disability.
She recalled that in 1989, the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) was adopted by the Global Community to give direction to the rights of children across the world.
She added that, in July 2003, Nigeria took a bold step to domesticate the International Child Rights Treaty by passing the Child Rights Act into law.
“But currently, we are still faced with the challenge of full domestication and implementation of the Child’s Rights Act in all the states of the federation. There is, therefore, the need to ensure full domestication of the Child’s Right Act across the country,” she said.
She congratulated children in the FCT and the country, adding that child’s protection and promotion policies that would protect children’s rights to education were critical to national development.
The authorities said they were aware and alarmed by the increasing visibility of street children across the city.
“We have a social welfare system that is stretched, but we are not folding our hands. The FCTA has recently embarked on profiling vulnerable children and has set up a monitoring team in partnership with the Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to track trafficking and child abuse rings,” a top official of the FCTA said. It was also gathered that efforts were underway to expand the capacity of temporary shelters in Karu and Bwari, though no timeline was given.
But critics say the government is not moving fast enough.
“There has been more talk than tangible action. How do you explain seeing the same children on the same street every day if real rescues are happening?” a resident, Monday Akpan asked.
An officer with the FCTA’s Social Welfare Department who spoke in confidence said: “To its credit, the FCTA has carried out several raids in recent years targeting beggars across the city, including children. “However, most of the children were released within days due to a lack of space at shelters and pressure from untraceable guardians. In some cases, they were simply dropped off outside the city limits. What you have is a revolving door. We arrest them, document them, but there’s nowhere to keep them. There’s no sustained reintegration programme. So, they return.”
The streets are a classroom of chaos
A deeper tragedy is unfolding. Every day spent on the street is a day robbed from a child’s future. Many of the children encountered by our reporter have never been to school. Uncertainty and desperation are clear in their eyes. A few speak of elderly people waiting for them at night. Some display bruises. Others are hyper-alert, moving like prey in a forest full of danger.
“I asked a boy where he sleeps and he said, ‘near the big car under the tree.’ He pointed to an abandoned car. That’s his bedroom. What life is that?” said Kingsley Opara, who runs a small restaurant in Nyanya.
Educators warn that the long-term effect is a generation of mentally and emotionally damaged youth with no skills, no trust in society and no sense of belonging.
“These are not just beggars; they are potential recruits for gangs, drug mules or worse. Society must intervene now or prepare to deal with a bigger crisis in 10 years,” Ekanem Effiong, a resident of Kubwa, said.
Many residents of Abuja express sympathy for the children but admit to being overwhelmed. “At first, I gave food or coins every time I saw them. But, soon I realised it was endless. One day, I gave rice to one girl, and five others showed up at my store the next day. It’s exhausting,” said Ifeanyi Eze, a supermarket owner in Gwarinpa.
Some residents are beginning to push back, accusing the government of transferring the burden to ordinary citizens.
“These kids knock on our gates at 6:00 a.m. They look hungry, but we don’t know their background. What if they’re being used? What if our kindness puts them in more danger?” Hauwa Sani in Lokogoma queried.
There is also fear. In some areas, child beggars are seen as surveillance agents for petty criminals.
“They loiter and observe. Once, a woman pretending to beg returned later with a group that tried to rob a customer. We’re watching them more closely now.” said a security officer at a mall in Jabi.
Where do we go from here?
With the government’s efforts still fragmented, the civil society is trying to fill the gap. But these interventions, while noble, are temporary. Without a national child welfare policy with teeth, the problem continues to spread. Experts agree that child begging in Abuja is not just a social issue, it’s a governance issue; a failure of safety nets, of law enforcement, of inter-agency coordination and of moral urgency.
To combat the menace effectively, they recommend a special task force on child protection comprising police, immigration, FCTA, and NAPTIP representatives; mandatory profiling and registration of any child rescued from street environments; prosecution of individuals or networks exploiting minors under anti-trafficking and child abuse laws; public education campaigns warning against giving money to children on the streets; investment in community-based shelters, mobile schools, and family reunification programs; as well as the need for proper family planning.
Every day a child begs in Abuja, Nigeria fails, not just the child, but also itself. It is not enough to look away. Nor is it enough to give a loaf of bread and drive off. What is needed is sustained, strategic and humane intervention. This is so because when a nation’s capital becomes a haven for abandoned children, it’s not just its streets that are unclean, but its conscience also.
Last year, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, ordered that beggars should be taken off the roads by security operatives. The order is still in effect with little or no effect.
Also during the 2025 FCT Appropriation Bill defence session at the National Assembly, Wike rejected a proposal to build housing facilities for displaced people and beggars roaming the streets of Abuja.
Such an approach, he reasoned, is unsuitable for a capital city such as Abuja.
Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume expressed concern over the increasing number of displaced people and beggars in Abuja. He advised the FCT Administration to adopt a strategy similar to that used in Kano decades ago.
“Those who are indigenous to Abuja or the displaced people roaming the Abuja streets—it’s not enough as Nigerians driving them or arresting them. What you need to do is what the Kano State Government did as far back as the 1970s.
“That is, picking those who are indigenous to Abuja, if you know them, and you have a camp where you can feed and train them so that they will be off the street,” Senator Ndume said.
Wike dismissed the suggestion, insisting that the peculiar nature of Abuja as the country’s capital demands a different approach.
“This is the Federal Capital Territory. The way things are done in Kano, Rivers, Sokoto or Ondo will not be the same as what happens in the FCT,” he said.
“These people you are talking about are not indigenous to Abuja. In a city such as the FCT, where all the international bodies reside, it will be difficult for us to follow that kind of pattern,” Wike said.
The minister urged roadside beggars to vacate the streets or risk arrest by enforcement agents.
He previously gave an ultimatum on October 27, 2024 for all concerned individuals to leave the roadsides, citing the growing presence of such people as a threat to urban security.
While flagging off the construction of an access road to the newly inaugurated Judges’ Quarters in Katampe, the minister lamented the increasing number of people loitering on the roadsides, calling the trend alarming.
“While we ponder how to control and/or handle the frightening flooding of Abuja streets by kid beggars, we should bear in mind that today’s beggars may likely be tomorrow’s criminals.
“The kid beggars, at no fault of theirs, do not know love because they have not been shown love,” a security expert said.
QUOTE
It’s a growing crisis. It’s not just about poverty. It’s about safety, accountability, neglect and the soul of a nation, many Nigerians feel. They come in groups, even at night. I see them every day. They come in groups, children aged maybe six, seven, sometimes with babies on their backs. One night, around 10:30 p.m., I heard a knock on my gate. It was a small girl asking for rice. I cried that night. Where are the parents? Who’s watching over these children?
