By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Lagos has banned street begging and hawking and has formed a team to stop the “menace”, an impossible task in Nigeria’s richest state that is a magnet for all, rich and poor, lame and able-bodied – when vast hordes troop South from the North.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu wants to emulate his predecessor, Babatude Fashola, who, during his tenure between 2007 and 2015, tried to rid the city and the suburbs of miscreants, and got some bussed back to their home states.
Fashola did not succeed.
He himself said at the time that Lagos attracts thousands of newcomers every day, mostly in search of jobs in the most economically productive state in Nigeria.
And he ended up apologising on national television for his deportation orders when he was being screened for a ministerial job in the National Assembly in 2015.
Northern poor driven South
Since the Fashola years, unemployment has risen nationwide. Petty trading is the saving grace for many, including graduates who sell chin chin and puff puff to get by.
Since he relocated to Abuja, the number of beggars has risen, swelled by Almajiris, the poster shame of the North whose commonwealth is stolen by the Northern elite comprising the army generals, the emirs, politicians, and the leaders.
The callous and shameless Northern elite give pious speech but steal from their talakawas, render them illiterate, and poor, and drive them South to fend for themselves.
They mend shoes, patch torn clothes with mobile sewing machines, and hawk wares in wheelbarrows. They hew wood and draw water to sell. They operate commercial motorcycles and tricycles and get employed as security guards.
But most of the Northern poor driven South, women and young boys and girls, beg bread on Lagos streets.
Historical poverty in the North is now made worse by Islamist terrorists who attack city dwellers and rural farmers alike and make life impossible. Muhammadu Buhari simple fiddles and pampers the jihadists who are carrying out his agenda.
Life is unbearable in internally displaced camps (IDPs) where Buhari and his fellow Northern oligarchs cramp the Northern poor. The immediate option left for the vast horde of the Northern poor is street begging – in the safer South, mostly in Lagos.
Those who pretend to be beggars and use weapons to rob people and those who transport beggars to Lagos as a “business” should be prosecuted and jailed. Other than that, it is not possible to completely ban beggars in Lagos.
Nonetheless, the BBC reports that Lagos State Youth and Social Development Commissioner, Olusegun Dawodu, said a Special Team to stop the “menace” is expected to begin operations in the next few days.
He told journalists that beggars and hawkers, who include children, were being transported from other parts of the country to Lagos where street beggars were a nuisance to law-abiding citizens.
He said the “business” was demeaning and abuse to humanity, especially the children who were being forced into it, and alleged that some of the beggars and hawkers were linked to crime in the city – by assaulting and robbing residents.
“The activities of these people in our streets impede human movement and vehicular traffic, constitute environmental nuisance and security threats,” Dawodu stressed.
His announcement came days after the police raised the alarm over criminals disguising themselves as beggars and attacking Lagos residents.
Human trafficking
Premium Times adds that Dawodu said the Special Team was set up by the ministry in conjunction with the police and “will tackle the menace frontally and would commence operation in the next few days.”
He insisted that street begging is a social vice the government cannot afford to watch attain uncontrollable level so as not to affect plans to transform the state.
His words: “The road to our desired destination of ‘A Greater Lagos’ has, among other man-made obstacles, ‘street begging.’
“Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu will not fold his arms and watch the state become a haven for beggars.
“This has become big business to some groups of people. Our investigation revealed that beggars and hawkers (children and adults) are transported regularly from other parts of the country to Lagos.
“This is with the sole aim of doing this odious ‘business’ that demeans humanity and abuses innocence in the case of children, who are being pushed into this degrading trade.”
Huge business for cartels
Dawodu said these people have turned alms begging and hawking into a huge business by collecting returns from beggars and hawkers, who sleep under bridges, in motor parks, and in uncompleted buildings.
Intelligence reports also revealed that some beggars go about with dangerous weapons, assaulting and robbing residents, according to him.
“In embarking on this enforcement, we will also deploy a lot of human and material resources towards enlightenment and sensitisation via different media platforms.
“That is why the way to go now is to enforce compliance with the laws of our state for sanity to reign in our society.”
He urged residents to take their alms to registered homes, orphanages, rehabilitation centres, and faith-based organisations where they would be judiciously utilised for the right purpose of ameliorating the condition of the vulnerable.
Dawodu pleaded for all hands to be on deck to discourage the inhuman culture of street begging.
Police Commissioner Hakeem Odumosu added that the state command would fulfil its constitutional responsibility to enforce all laws legally enacted.
He appealed to those involved in aiding street begging and hawking to desist from it, as the enforcement of the law would be total.
