The Nation Newspaper

Tag: beggars

  • Kaduna bans beggars, hawkers for security measure‎s

    Kaduna bans beggars, hawkers for security measure‎s

    Kaduna State Government has commended the people of the state for promptly embracing the crucial necessity of watchful vigilance and attention to security.‎
    This was as the government announced further measures to enhance public security in the state. 
    It said: “All beggars and hawkers are to stay off the streets until further notice. Any beggar or hawker found on the streets will be arrested, until these measures are relaxed.”
    This was contained in statement issued by the Special Assistant to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Samuel. It read that: “In addition, government reiterates that the ban on motorcycle taxis (achaba) remains in force, and the law will be strictly enforced in this regard.
    “The government hereby urges all citizens to report all suspicious persons and movements to the security agencies, and to afford these agencies their maximum cooperation. 
    “These measures take immediate effect,” the statement read.

  • Everyday should be Ramadan, says Beggars

    Beggars in Kano state have resorted to going out at night to solicit for alms to avoid arrest by officials of Kano State Hizba Board.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government had placed total ban on street begging but the trade has continued.

    A check by NAN around the metropolis revealed that most of the beggars disappear from major roads during the day time, only to resurface at night around eateries and mosques begging for alms.

    Some of them said it was a strategy to conform with the Ramadan period.

    A beggar, Malam Inusa Adamu, described the Ramadan period as the best, saying that begging was fun due to high returns.

    “Night begging is fun because we don’t have to be running around under the sun and go home with nothing. Now we enjoy free meals almost everywhere and people give us money at night, so to me I wish every day will always be Ramadan,” Adamu said.

     

  • Chad to round up beggars, foreigners after Boko Haram attack

    Chad to round up beggars, foreigners after Boko Haram attack

    Chad plans  to round up beggars and some foreigners as part of a security clamp-down, days after two suicide attacks on its capital blamed on Boko Haram .

    The apparently coordinated blasts at two police stations  on Monday killed 34 people and injured dozens in the largest attack of its kind in the country.

    Chad’s Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet said yesterday that  the detained beggars and foreigners would be held in a centre in Baga Sola, a town near Lake Chad, close to the Nigerian border.

    He gave no details  on how the round-up would improve security or the nationality of the foreigners.

    Deubet also said that boating and fishing would be banned on parts of the River Chari that flows into the Lake Chad. Boko Haram militants have launched several deadly attacks around the lake, often arriving in motorised canoes from Nigeria.

    Chad is a member of the multi- national forces battling Boko Haram.

    Its capital,N’Djamena  is a command centre for the  regional anti-Boko Haram task force.

    It banned religious head-to-toe burqas earlier this week on the grounds that they might be used as camouflage by militants, though residents say people on the streets of N’Djamena have continued wearing them.

  • The new generation beggars

    The new generation beggars

    For ages, the universe has thrived amid its flurry of illusion and fantasies which sharply contrast reality. The delusion stares one in the face when you walk on the clumsy streets only to be horrified by the sight of agile souls buried in their singsongs just to get a morsel of food or money.  It pinches the soul when these elements dance and twirl around from dawn to twilight; yet trapped within the enclave of stark poverty. Had nature remained sacred and just, destitutes would have rode on beautiful horses. But for their punctured destiny and sorry fate, they end up romancing the nights with assortment of failed prospects, unfulfilled promises, among other personal adversities.

    Beyond the figment of our own imagination, providence has really betrayed their mission on earth. Yet, they succumbed to the catchy tunes of nature, navigating the slippery roads with shoeless feet and tainted identities. In their ever-flowing garb of disdain, they catch the pity of gazing eyes with their impoverished mien. These sets of strayed bones are everywhere, in the nooks and cranny. They are everywhere. They are products of dysfunctional homes, psychological confusion, stunted finances in a highly volatile economy and some other misfortunes, which coincidentally reshaped their presupposed bright destiny. In spite of this natural complex, they still remain the new set of discoveries the world never evolved in recent time.

    Unlike their fellows in the middle and top echelons of the society, these individuals remain undaunted by the circumstances that envelope their fate. They do not yield easily to the verbiage of a hypocritical society. They just don’t allow their dreams to die, it seems. They just have to survive or nothing. Armed with this mantra, they take to the streets, appealing to the conscience of generous souls.  Though apparently homeless and bandwagons of pervert hands, they pretend to show reverence for potential pay masters just to scout the few coins in their pockets. The contentment and camaraderie enjoyed at wilful disposal inundate the whole game with bond of undiluted trusts.

    As days run into nights, they serenade the streets with songs of valour, all in effort to grant poverty a befitting burial. Yet they are deluded. Henceforth, the street becomes the stage for their restive soldiery as each decked in tattered camouflage and armed with a begging bow. As dictate of nature, they live for the day and just wont hesitate to squander all that they have gathered in a manner akin to sheer profligacy. At night, the ubiquitous breeze is at their beck and calls while the warm atmosphere nurtures their souls with soul-stirring tunes. In what looks like a rhapsody of pleasure, the ill-fated realities of yesternights are quickly forgotten as the morning flourishes their dream with unfettered hope. Hence, they are homeless not hopeless.

     

    •Toyin, 300-Level Law, UNILORIN

  • ‘Army’ of beggars invades Ibadan

    ‘Army’ of beggars invades Ibadan

    An unusually large number of beggars have descended on Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, causing all sorts of problems for the residents amidst efforts by the state government to rid the city of their menace. TAYO JOHNSON reports. 

    Residents of Ibadan in Oyo State have been having an unusual kind of ‘headache’ for some time now, no thanks to the invasion of their beloved city by a large number of beggars seeking economic sustenance.

    Major roads and strategic road junctions in the ancient city have been taken over by these ‘army’ of beggars who could also be seen lurking around major motor parks and markets across the metropolis.

    From Mokola Roundabout in the city centre via Sabo through Jemibewon Road to Molete, Beere junction, down to Oje Market, Agodi-Gate Bus stop, Iwo Road Roundabout, Old Ife Road and up north around Ojoo Motor park, a long queue of old men and women some dressed in tattered clothes with begging bowls or polythene bags in hands could be seen here and there waiting for good spirited people to gift them any amount of money.

    And moving around in twos and threes in between slow moving traffic in the city could also be found young children sent out by their parents or guardian to solicit for alms from motorists and even pedestrians. Seated somewhere not too far away from the kid beggars are their adult counterparts waiting for them to bring ‘returns’.

    All over the place the city seems to have been taken over by the beggars who are almost becoming a permanent feature of the society that nobody seems to take notice of them anymore save for those who want to give them alms sometimes for religious purpose.

    Though the beggars are mostly from the northern part of the country and across the border in Chad and Niger Republics, a few of them also come from some neighbouring states in the southwest.

    Homeless, poor, hungry and almost totally illiterate, these beggars some of them physically challenged were drawn to Ibadan by the prospect of being able to make ends meet in a city, the stature of the Oyo State capital, in the absence of any viable economic venture back home where they come from. But their presence is becoming an embarrassment to the residents.

    A beggar along Jemibewon Road, Bashir Mohammed, a father of eight children, told The Nation that begging is the only way he could take care of his large family because nobody gives him and his family food.

    The alarming and embarrassing trend becomes more worrisome when it is discovered that some of these beggars have no business begging because they seem physically capable of doing menial jobs to eke out a living.

    Though poverty and unemployment have been identified as the driving force behind this culture of begging, the ‘business’ seems to have become so lucrative that some like the aforementioned Bashir Mohammed have turned it into a ‘job’.

    But another beggar, Sule Mohammed, who does his business around Agodi Gate Bus-stop said the job is degrading. He told The Nation:”ýI never planned or dreamed to being a beggar, even once in my life, but I don’t have a choice because I have to survive. Being a beggar is an unfortunate life experience. God knows I tried every effort to avoid this condition I have found myself now. But, who would give a chance to a man who could not even read or write his name? If ever there are, I never met one. I thought the city would be the best place for me and my family to live in. We left far away Dutse (Jigawa State capital) where we once lived to come down here to survive in this city.

    “Many Nigerians probably think that my `job’ is the easiest job on earth. If that would be the case then I have to be the richest “dying man”. Well, they should hear me now. Begging is the most degrading and painful work anyone could ever have”.

    Degrading or not, the Oyo State government seems poised to rid the metropolis of the menace of the beggars. Recently, the Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on People with Disability, Prince Paul Adelabu declared street begging in any part of the state as an offence with immediate effect, replacing it with the introduction of a social scheme that would be established to feed and cater for the beggars in a centre to be established.

    He said that no indigene of the state is among the beggars, adding that people from other neighbouring states and tribes are the ones littering the streets, constituting the nuisance.

    “There is no religion that tells us to go out and beg, henceforth street begging is prohibited in all the 33 local government areas of Oyo State, any beggar found begging on the street will be arrested and returned back to their various states.

    “This will also ensure that the practice which allows children of school age to go about begging in the streets in the name of Almajiri is stopped” said he

    A social welfare officer in Ibadan, Mr Kehinde Ayinla noted that street begging is not only perpetrated by hopeless, sick or physically challenged people, stressing that strong and agile people do beg too.

    According to him “if you go to government ministries, departments and agencies, you will see able bodied men going from office to office begging for money. Some ladies too indulge themselves in the act of begging, some will hold little babies and tell one lie or the other to beg for money, while others hire children to beg and return them later in the day.”

    The Nation checks round the city revealed that some parents actively encourage their children to go about begging on behalf of the family blaming it on poverty, a situation a Civil Servant Mr Muyiwa Ogundoyin described as irresponsible parenting.

    Much as poverty has been identified as the major cause of street begging in Nigeria, many who spoke with The Nation believe that there was need for government at all levels to eradicate poverty to the barest minimum to reduce the number of beggars on the street. They say government should provide jobs for people so that they in turn can take care of their families while also strengthening social welfare programmes for destitute and the physically challenged.

    While some are quick to blame a particular religion for the menace of street begging, the National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Organisation, Abdul-Quadir Abdul-Rafi said “even Allah discourages begging”, noting that the hands that gives rather than collects is blessed according to Islam.

    “Anybody that begs has thrown away his dignity and morals. The government needs to clear them off the street in no time, and provide them with enabling social amenities” he said

    Abdul-Rafi urged the state government to create a rehabilitation centre for the beggars.

    In the opinion of the Presiding Pastor of a Pentecostal Church in Ibadan, Moses Ayanleke begging portrayed that a country is poor and lacking in human resource management.

    He said that if the roads and streets were rid of beggars, it would save the image of the state.

    A leader of the Catholic Women’s Organisation, Mrs Patricia Chukwu on her part called for the urgent need to take away the beggars from the street of Ibadan. She is worried that visitors arriving in Ibadan could have a negative impression of the Oyo State capital on sighting a battalion of beggars on the roads. She held firmly that there should be a stop to loitering of beggars in Ibadan and urged the state government to take necessary steps to ensure that this was done.

    “Street begging in our society today is like cancer in the body. Either we sacrifice the affected part and save the body or we allow it to invade and destroy the entire body. We either summon enough courage or will to break its neck and finish it once and for all, or we allow it to remain a nuisance and an obnoxious part of our culture and tradition till the end of time.” She noted

  • Beggars invade Kaduna streets

    Beggars invade Kaduna streets

    They lined up the street along the busy Abeokuta Road, close to the Ansarudeen Mosque. They are in a sitting position, but not praying like many others who visit the Mosque. They seem to care less about the heavy traffic on the road and many other spots where they gather.

    These are aged people who have taken begging as a hobby and have refused to leave the streets. Many of these beggars have been on the street for several years and getting them off the street has become a difficult task.

    While many of them sleep on the sidewalk of major roads, others are brought out daily by their grand children to beg for alms, taking advantage of the fact that alms-giving is a mandatory obligation for both Islam and Christianity.

    While some of them are physically-challenged, some others are healthy people who chose begging as a profession. Some of them are also found during heavy traffic hold-up; with little kids running after moving vehicles begging for alms. Many of them are also found in places of worship and special events begging. Many believe that they are encouraged to embark on the exercise since many people respond to their demand for alms. Those who hold this view argue that the kind-hearted nature of Nigerians has encouraged the phenomenon which they described as embarrassing to Nigerian society.

    Investigations revealed that several of them have fallen victim to some of the violence that have erupted in Kaduna in the past.

    After the unfortunate Sharia crisis in Kaduna State in 2000, the government decided to build a permanent structure for the beggars in order to enable them to stay away from the streets. It was also gathered that effort was made to ensure that some of them who are strong enough go to the Kaduna State Rehabilitation Centre to learn some trade.

    Some rejected the idea while many of them chose to stay in the apartment provided for them inside the first-ever beggars’ colony which was provided for them along Kano Road in the heart of the city by a public-spirited Nigeria.

    It was further gathered that the state government supported the initiative and placed the colony under the watchful eyes of the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

    However, it was engulfed by fire a few years back. Some of the beggars died as a result of the fire outbreak. But it was rehabilitated by Hajia Asmau Makarfi who was then the wife of the then Kaduna State Governor.

    The Senator representing Kaduna Central, our correspondent gathered, also donated a structure in addition of the existing one as part of efforts to keep them off the street.

    Even though the efforts yielded results, they were short-lived, as many of them have returned to the streets, refusing to stay there any longer. Some of the beggars who spoke to our correspondent argued that the place was only provided for them as a way of keeping them away from members of the larger society.

    They further argued that by keeping them in the colony, the usual alms they get from people would no longer be available. They maintained that very few people follow them to their new home to assist them.

    Others accused the state government of dumping them in the home and turning its back against them. One of them who identified herself as Maryam claimed that she has been behind the Kano Road Central Mosque for several years, adding that though they are physically-challenged, they are aware of the fact that there is limit to which they can go.

    She said: “We are physically-challenged and there is a limit to which we can go to cater for ourselves and our families. The government that brought us here has forsaken us. They only come to the house when they want to score cheap political points. We are left with no option than to come back to the streets and seek for a means of livelihood.”

    Former Chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons Living with Disability in Kaduna State, Rilwan Abdullahi Mohammed dismissed the claim that the beggars’ colony was set up to keep them away from the street. He said the colony was set up to provide accommodation for most of the beggars who have no home of their own.

    He told our correspondent that the Mohammed Namadi Sambo administration in the state made an effort to evacuate the beggars from the street. Even though that exercise was carried out by government, he said there was no official statement to that effect that they should stay off the streets and remain at home.

    He accused government of not being able to distinguish between beggars and those who are physically-challenged, adding that a person can be physically-challenged and yet, not a bigger.

    He said: “All members of Joint National Association of Persons Living with Disabilities are trained in different skills and some are happily settled with their families. So, it is the fault of government to take all physically-challenged persons as beggars.

    If you go to Kano Road, the large number of people you see begging there are elderly people and the same thing applies to other spots within the metropolis. So, if the government is really serious, they should provide home for the elderly people as being done in advanced countries.”

    Some residents of the metropolis who spoke to our correspondent accused the government of not having the political will to rid the streets of beggars. Some of them noted that if government is interested in keeping the beggars off the streets, they should have made serious effort to make the beggars’ colony habitable for them.

    Investigation revealed that the colony where many of them are staying stinks and has remained largely unkempt and unhygienic. Some people, however, argued that it has been difficult for the government to keep them at the beggars’ colony to learn some trade at the rehabilitation centres largely because many of the beggars are either not indigenous to the state or are believed to be too old to learn any trade.

  • Kano repatriates beggars

    Kano repatriates beggars

    Kano State government has repatriated 33 beggars to their states of origin.

    Director-General of the State Hisbah Board Dr Abba Sufi told reporters in Kano yesterday that the beggars were arrested last week by the committee set up to enforce the law.

    He said of the affected beggars, 10 were from Jigawa, 15 from Katsina and the remaining eight were from Kaduna.

    ‘’They are now on their way to their respective states and on arrival, they will be handed over to the respective secretaries to the state government (SSGs),’’ he said.

    Sufi said seven persons, who are mentally unstable, have also been taken to Dorayi Psychiatric hospital for proper care and treatment.

    ‘’We also have seven person found to be suffering from mental problems and they have since been transferred to psychiatric hospital in Dorayi.

    ‘’They will be treated and taken care of until they recover,’’ he said.

    Sufi disclosed that the board had secured the prosecution of one beggar, who refused to stop begging, at a Sharia court.

    He said the adamant beggar was sentenced to three months imprisonment but with an option of N10, 000 fine.

  • Beggars back in nation’s capital

    Beggars back in nation’s capital

    The effort of the FCT Administration to make Abuja a world-class city has remained futile with the presence of beggars in the city. It is not a new thing to see beggars on major streets in Abuja. What is new, or what runs through the minds of many, is why some of the people beg.

    The battle to get them off major centres of Abuja metropolis is getting tough by the day. In 2011, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed, read the riot act to all heads of agencies and departments following the poor environmental condition of the city. He gave them one directive: to get beggars off the streets of the capital.

    Consequent to that charge, over 170 beggars were repatriated to states such as Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, and Gombe. Others were taken to Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Plateau and Abia states. The exercise was seen as an effort to clean up the capital by the Mohammed administration.

    But two years after the instruction to rid Abuja of beggars, the activities of beggars are becoming visible again in the capital city.

    Beggars, who were dislodged by the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) around Wuse, Berger, and Area One, are suddenly returning to the streets in the city centres.

    In satellite towns like Karu, Nyanya, Mararaba, Gwagwalada and Kubwa, beggars have found solace in the pedestrian bridges at night where they beg for arms from residents.

    The beggars are of the excuse that Abuja is not meant for the high class alone, hence the need for them to stay. Besides the suburbs of the city, you can also find them in strategic locations like the entrance of banks, mosques, churches, major bus stops; motor parks and major road junctions where they feel those with good hearts will see them and give them alms.

     

    Beyond gender

    Gender is not a barrier in the business of begging as both male and female are into it. Some live with one form of deformity or the other while some decided to embrace begging as a profession and a way to make ends meet.

    One would expect that only those who have reasons to beg should beg but a second thought on the idea of begging would remind one of the axiom: “there is ability in disability”. This indicates that disability should not be an excuse for one to engage in begging.

    There are different kinds of beggars. We have the habitual beggars, who are always dressed in shabby clothes. They carry umbrellas, plates and bags to keep what they are given by the kind-hearted ones. To attract more pity especially from women, some carry babies who always look mal-nourished with unkempt hair and outfit. Some even hold plastic plates in case a philanthropist gives them any kind of meal.

    There is yet another category of beggars who actually live with one form of disability or the other. The blind, among these categories, are seen with their sticks and sometimes accompanied by a relative who helps in directing them.

    To get the attention of good-hearted people, they sing songs, blessing before and after they receive some gifts.

    The deaf and dumb among the beggars go about with identification cards, envelopes and sometimes a carton around their necks with the inscription; “I am deaf and dumb, please assist me”.

    Also, some people under the guise of running a non-governmental organisation that caters for the disabled go from one organisation to the other seeking fund to assist people living with disabilities.

    At the major junctions at Kubwa, our correspondents encountered some dwarfs moving in company of their likes seeking alms. “Why should dwarfs also beg, what is their excuse for begging?” were the questions in their minds.

    When one of them who simply identified himself as Zakari Tanimu was asked why he was begging, he said: “I did not go to school when I was young and I am too old to go now. I have tried to work in different places but I have been turned down severally. I concluded that if those who have normal heights are still there looking for jobs, when will I get a job?

    “My height is a disadvantage to me. If they are even considering anybody for a job; I know I will be the last. So, instead of just waiting endlessly, I have decided to beg.”

    Kudirat Salisu, mother of three who sits at one corner of the newly constructed pedestrian bridge at NICON Junction said: “If I don’t beg, how will I take care of my children and myself. I used to help people do their domestic chores, like washing clothes and keeping their houses clean but they started complaining that I should not be coming with my children. Where will I keep them while I go to work?

    “That was why I stopped and I don’t have enough money to start up any business. So, that is why I am begging.”

    Isah Djibril is another beggar who said he discovered that one of the means through which one could sustain oneself in the capital city is through begging for alms.

    The 42-year-old Adamawa State-born and father of four kids begs for alms at night at the popular Gwarimpa-Kubwa Express Bridge. He rubs the floor of the bridge with his buttocks as he strives to make ends meet.

    Isah Djibril, who spoke in Hausa through an interpreter, said he had been in the begging business for a long time. He explained that through begging, he has been able to provide for his family.

    According to Hauwa Amina, another beggar along the Wuse Bridge, the economic situation made her go into street begging. Asked if she is not scared of arrest by officials of AEPB, Hauwa, who spoke in Pidgin English, explained that government officials are the ones disturbing them by coming here to drive them away.

     

    A new trend

    The tales of Hauwa Amina or Kudirat Salisu are not different from hundreds of others, including a few literate ‘corporate’ beggars who throng the bus stops and other areas in the FCT at closing hours to seek financial assistance. The differences lie in their appearances.

    This paradigm in begging in the nation’s capital has become treacherous.

    This set of beggars often called corporate beggars is smart and unassuming to passersby. Their mode of dressing reflects confidence from distance; attractive and neat. But on a close contact, they represent treachery and deceit.

    This set of beggars or individuals give the impression of being stranded to get money from people. Abuja residents are now used to these tricks played by this set of beggars. Like a lie told many times, it becomes ineffective.

    Is there any help for them? With the rise of beggars in the nation’s capital, is there a way the government can get them off the streets?

    The Mandate Secretary of the FCT Social Development Secretariat, Mrs. Blessing Onuh in a recent publication said the FCT Administration recently rehabilitated some of these beggars in the capital city.

    “The secretariat recently concluded the training of about 90 women beggars at the Karinmaji Settlement,” she said.

    She further said: “The women were registered in co-operative groups and given monetary assistance by the secretariat.”

    Also, in a recent interview, the Principal, Bwari Rehabilitation Centre, Comrade Bala Tsoho expressed dismay at the unwillingness of most of the beggars to embrace the FCTA’s initiative to rehabilitate them at the centre.

    According to him, those who are into begging have lost their sense of dignity and pride.

  • Beggars at the gate

    Beggars at the gate

    It is now common to see women begging with infant babies, especially twins, in Lagos. Hannah Ojo who monitored some of the beggars with their children writes on the thin line between tradition, sympathy and treachery.

    The noise thinning out under the flyover bridge at Obalende was biting.  It was brawny enough to distort one’s sense of hearing. Confusion created by heavy trucks and big buses locked in a traffic snarl is a usual occurrence. As these vehicles blast their hones, a loud alarm pierces your ear. Coming from the conduits of these vehicles are suffocating fumes which make the atmosphere hazy. The scuffle between motorists and pedestrians for space gives the place away as a domain of brawl.

    On a pavement close to this seat of madness are two babies laid on a piece of cloth. The scene resembles the way goods are displayed to attract the attention of buyers in the market. Their principal, assumed to be their mother, uses the hem of her wrapper to drive flies away. Although the bridge provides a shelter to shed them from the sun, it could not stop the fits of dusts which filled the air. It could neither drone the noise coming from the vehicles. It is the early hours of the day; the dust is yet to gather enough to make them look squalid, so their innocent beauty exudes from the white cloths they were attired in.  The woman gave her name as Aisha. She would go no further. Her defence: she cannot communicate in English. When this reporter tried to engage her in a talk with a smattering of Hausa language, she would not budge. She only gave her name and the age of the babies whom she said were four months old. It was difficult to ascertain the sex of the babies as she had them covered from head downward in order to beat the cold of that early morning.  Efforts to probe her further did not yield fruit. She gave a demeanour that she wanted out of the discourse so she could concentrate on passers-by for stipends.

    The popular Mushin market, situated in the not-so-green area of Lagos, plays host to a boisterous atmosphere. It is characterised by noisy enthusiasm from traders and by-standers. The place usually witnesses a turbulent melee as Danfo drivers and bus conductors hustle with business. Just before the park where Okadas gather to pick passengers, a woman whose look gives her away as being in her late 30s laid her ‘wares’. She places her two bundles of joy on her laps while managing to guide the direction of the umbrella shedding them from sun rays. Her name too is Aisha. To get her to talk, the bait was to seek her help to change currency into other denominations. She took the guile. When a part of the money was handed to her for take, her countenance changed and she flashed her teeth in appreciation. Her babies whose names she gave as Hassana and Hussaina were attired in a pink dress with white layers sequined with pink patterns. Their heads were covered and they looked healthy.  While the first baby was asleep, the other one thumb-sucked and fixed her gaze on the intruder as if in askance.  How does she balance the weight of the twins? In the place of an answer, she flashed a smile betraying no fatigue accompanied by the weight of her duty.  Where is the father of the girls? The question caught her attention. “Their father sells tomatoes in the market.”  Aisha, who said she came to Lagos from Kano four years ago told why she opted for begging with her 8-month old babies instead of working, queried: “Who will employ a woman with two infants?” As she sat quietly with her babies, her stares were dull and fixed. With this she gets attention and draws sympathy from passers-by who stop to drop money into her hands.

    Although Marina Street on Lagos Island is noted for hosting big companies, another spectacle fast catching up with the business district is the sight of women begging with babies. On a particular day, this reporter encountered two of them who gave their husbands’ demise as the reason for bringing their children to the open to beg. Both women had their children looking squalid and unkempt. The hairs growing on their heads were tattered and brownish in colour – a pointer to malnutrition.

    Between tradition, sympathy and treachery

    The practice of using infants, especially twins, to beg dates back to an old tradition of the Yoruba people associated with the cultural belief that twins are oracles. Words like ‘e ta ibeji lore’ (present a gift to the twins) were used by mothers, who are most times instructed to ‘worship’ the deity of these twins by taking them out to beg.  It was believed that the children needed to be taken round streets and markets to avert impending dangers associated with non-adherence to the creed. The fortune of the parents and those of the twins are tied to this, it was learnt. According to this belief, some of the likely consequences of defaulting to adhere include generational misfortune, premature death of the parents and family members, ill health, etc. In lieu of this, people happily hand them gifts since it is believed that twins have mystical powers. Some even use their generosity as a point of contact to pray to give birth to twins as well. However, the arrival of education, Christianity, Islam has led to a sharp decline in this practice over time. It is a rude awakening to now discover that the trend is being picked up again. Another interesting dimension to the issue is the fact that Hausa women are more into the ‘trade’ these days. This serves to prove that other than traditional beliefs, poverty, illiteracy, greed and laziness are the factors fuelling the act, which is dehumanising to these children.

    Can one see another person’s woe and not be in sorrow too? Can one see another person’s grief and not give a relief? The sad story of Aisha and the burden of catering for two children at a time without a genuine source of income, forcing her to come into the open, appears sympathetic. Yet sympathy can easily become treachery.

    After some weeks, the same set of twins – Hassana and Hussana – were seen with another woman along the same Mushin road.  The woman who claimed to be their mother gave her name as Halima Kano.  “I came to Lagos with my husband.  I spent the Ramadan period here.  I don’t have a job because my husband could not get one for me. I was working with Hajia Rabiu, one of our matrons at a mosque but had to stop because she is battling an illness.  I do not have a choice than to bring my children to the open and beg.” As she talked, she managed to keep an eye on her 8-month-old twins who were actively playing, oblivious of the commotion generated around them.

    What implications?

    From observation, a movement seems to be on the rise as the number of infant beggars in Lagos increases. They have become common sights at motor parks, pedestrian bridges, markets, roads and other public places.

    What implication does this trend portend? Dr. Olamide Kayode, a paediatrician at LAUTech Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State, when asked on the implication of alms begging with infants, said such babies could be carriers of skin infections such as scabies, fungal skin diseases (ringworm), respiratory tract infections, as a result of exposure to air pollutants.

    “The trend could also have a negative effect on these children as they grow up,” according to Dr. Kayode, who said that rape cases of young children abound because of their vulnerability and their living on the street. The children, he added, fall into the group of OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children).

    Speaking on the moral implication for kids who are subjected to this practice, Kofoworola Ayodeji, a physiotherapist, opined that the act is a form of child abuse. “It is a practice that is detrimental to the future of such children who grow up with low self-esteem and morale in the society. By extension, it puts the future of Nigeria as a nation in danger as these children end up not being  useful to the society; they grow up to have low level of productivity as a result of low self-esteem.”

    To nip the trend in the bud when it is still rising seems wise as a delayed action could lead to the startup of another social problem such as the almajiri phenomenon in northern Nigeria. To put a stop to the disturbing trend, Adedeji, who also runs HRF Nigeria, a human development and charity organisation for children, suggests there should be a strict legislation against the act by making it punishable under the law. He added that women, especially those in the rural areas, should be educated on the implications.   Although these suggestions may appear lofty, Dr Kayode believes they are realistic if individuals and government can rise up to the occasion by empowering women and assisting families that are genuinely in needs with scholarships and vocational training.

    As children whose parents have decided to introduce them to a debauched aspect of life without their consent, the future is not bright. One wonders if they can show values of diligence and appropriate behaviours in the future.

     

  • Curbing street beggars in Efurrun

    There is growing trend in Effurun which demands urgent attention of government and her agencies. It is the proliferation of beggars in our streets and major junctions such as Airport, Jakpa and Enerhen junctions. The worrisome part of this trend is that over 95% of them are women with children that range from few months to 12 years and are from a certain part of northern Nigeria. These children are used to pursue passers-by to beg for money. This is abnormal in any right-thinking society. I have also noticed that the babies in the hands of these women are always sleeping and I have wondered why. Out of curiosity, I made a private investigation and discovered that most of these toddlers are drugged, making them to sleep for hours so that they can carry out their acts undisturbed. This again is the highest form of child abuse. The government must do something fast and get this people off the roads and streets. Most of these people are not even ready to work and I have always asked them, any time I meet with them where are their husbands?. Their actions are callous and demeaning. I believe if they are serious-minded people, they should have relatives, friends and tribes men who could help them start small scale businesses, but the question still remains, are they ready to engage in meaningful trade?

    Alexander Ighoro

    Effurun, Delta State