“What have we finished?” a beggar, Ali Bappa, exclaimed in disbelief when our correspondent knowledgeable him concerning the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike’s directive to arrest beggars within the nation’s capital.
Wike had through the flag-off ceremony for entry street building within the Katampe District on Tuesday threatened a crackdown on beggars.
Lamenting the growing inhabitants of beggars within the FCT, the previous Rivers State governor ordered legislation enforcement brokers to begin apprehending them from Monday.
“Let me state clearly that we’ve declared struggle; Abuja is popping right into a beggar metropolis. If you realize you could have a sister or brother who’s a beggar, please, from subsequent week, we are going to take them away. It’s embarrassing that individuals will are available in and the primary issues they’ll see are simply beggars on the street,” Wike had stated.
Not finished, Wike accused a few of them of being criminals, including that they’d until Sunday to seek out their approach out of the nation’s capital.
Although unaware of the brand new order, Bappa questioned if any plan had been made to offer them with various technique of livelihood, expressing concern over their unsure future.
In response to him, begging was by no means one thing he took pleasure in, including that he hated the discrimination hooked up to being a beggar within the nation’s capital.
He stated, “This example I discover myself in will not be one thing I needed. It could actually occur to anybody who continues to be alive. Some individuals see us coming and run away.
“In public autos, no one desires to sit down near us. You see, there are individuals who assume that simply by interacting with me, they’ll turn into blind.”
In the mean time, Bappa says he and his household depend on the kindness of strangers for survival. With the financial system in such dire straits, he fears they might face hunger if no various comes their approach.
“We rely on what I get from begging. With the present financial system, the place persons are struggling and there’s no meals, my household and I should keep at dwelling and await dying as a result of there will probably be nothing to dwell on—no meals,” he stated.
Requested what else he may do if supported, he says he knits effectively, urging the federal government to empower beggars as a substitute of locking them up.
“I can knit very effectively, overlook that I’m blind. The federal government ought to empower us as a substitute of arresting and detaining us. Now we have many people who’re gifted.”
In contrast to Bappa, Safiyanu Bako, one other beggar, is conscious of the order and plans to depart the nation’s capital for Kebbi, his dwelling state, to proceed his commerce.
Bako, who has a number of disabilities, believes arresting beggars is way from the appropriate resolution, particularly within the face of extreme hardship he and his colleagues have been experiencing.
He stated, “I got here from Kebbi to search for a method of livelihood. I didn’t have something to do, which is why I began begging. I heard the information on the radio yesterday. I don’t need any issues, so I’m going again to my hometown as a result of if I keep right here, there will probably be nothing for me to do.
“I’ve three kids and a spouse. Even when I return, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Many people are prepared to work however haven’t any alternative. If they are saying we shouldn’t beg anymore, there must be one thing else in place for us. I’m not joyful about begging.”
Impoverished by bandits
As soon as thriving, Muhammed’s life took a devastating flip when bandits kidnapped him and his household.
Regardless of his visible impairment, the beggar, who was within the Maraba space of the FCT when Sunday PUNCH visited, stated he all the time labored onerous inside the bounds of the legislation to cater to his household.
However every little thing he constructed was misplaced—bought off to pay the ransom that secured their launch from the palms of the bandits.
“I used to be a farmer, reared chickens and goats as effectively regardless of my situation. I used to be capable of maintain my household earlier than we had been kidnapped by bandits three years in the past. We spent a month with the bandits as a result of we couldn’t afford the quantity they demanded. My individuals bought every little thing we needed to get us out. I left Zamfara for Abuja to see if I may begin my life afresh. However issues aren’t as simple as I assumed they might have been in Abuja,” he stated.
He urged the Federal Authorities to revive peace in his state, expressing readiness to return to farming if his security might be assured.
“I’m able to return to my state to begin farming once more, however it isn’t secure as a result of bandits are nonetheless disturbing us. If insecurity is gone, many people will return to our farms. The federal government ought to assist us restore peace in my state,” he added.
Begging as enterprise
For some, begging has advanced right into a worthwhile enterprise slightly than a necessity. That is significantly evident amongst people with none type of incapacity or seen hardship.
Sunday PUNCH observes that these people typically place themselves in strategic areas throughout the town, capitalising on the compassion of well-meaning residents.
Residents of the FCT say this set of individuals deserves to be kicked out of the territory.
A resident of Lugbe in Abuja, Philip Anjorin, stated these partaking in begging as a enterprise must be prosecuted as effectively.
He stated, “Now we have numerous them right here. You already know, with Abuja being seen as a metropolis for the wealthy, a lot of them come right here to see how they’ll make it. They will succeed right here if they’re artistic and hardworking, not by deceiving individuals into giving them cash. Personally, I look rigorously earlier than giving anybody my cash. Those that beg as a enterprise mustn’t solely be kicked out but additionally prosecuted.”
A resident of Kuje, Joshua Friday, shared an analogous view. In response to him, company begging must be thought-about a criminal offense.
“It’s not nearly people asking for assist anymore; it’s turning into a enterprise for some, exploiting individuals’s goodwill. We want stronger legal guidelines and stricter enforcement to handle this rising situation in our society,” he added.
Wike’s predecessors and beggars
The clampdown that Wike ordered on beggars within the FCT isn’t a brand new phenomenon; related efforts have been made up to now.
Nevertheless, these measures typically finish in futility as beggars inevitably discover their approach again to the streets of the nation’s capital.
In Could 2016, the quick previous FCT minister, Muhammad Bello, declared struggle on beggars and hawkers. In September of the identical yr, Bello banned begging within the FCT. Whereas he was in workplace, over 200 beggars had been arrested and returned to their states.
Beneath Dr Aliyu Umar, who was the FCT minister between 2007 and 2008, 395 beggars had been returned to their states whereas 113 had been prosecuted.
His predecessor, Nasiru El-Rufai, who served between 2003 and 2007, rid the town of beggars and repatriated numerous them to their numerous states.
Equally, underneath Bala Muhammad, there was a clampdown on beggars. In July 2014, 172 beggars had been arrested.
Adamu Aliero, who was the minister between 2008 and 2010, additionally banned avenue begging and raised a 150-member corps to arrest offenders.
This implies that Wike’s actions could meet the identical destiny with out addressing the underlying points driving individuals to beg, resembling poverty and lack of alternatives.
Begging unlawful?
States like Kano took proactive measures to handle avenue begging by enacting legal guidelines geared toward curbing the follow in 2013.
In an analogous vein, the Lagos State Home of Meeting deliberated on the concept of introducing a legislation to curb avenue begging throughout a plenary session in 2023.
Nevertheless, present authorized frameworks already made provisions towards avenue begging in several elements of Nigeria. Beneath sections 249(b) and 250(1), (2), (3), and (6) of the Legal Code, avenue begging is criminalised within the Southern area of the nation. Likewise within the Northern area, Part 405 of the Penal Code additionally criminalises avenue begging, displaying that each the northern and southern elements of Nigeria have authorized grounds to fight the issue.
Nevertheless, the Nationwide Common Secretary, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Gerald Katchy, attributed the widespread prevalence of begging to the federal government’s failure to fulfil its constitutional obligations.
He additional famous that taking a hardline method towards beggars alone wouldn’t remedy the issue.
Katchy stated, “You’re speaking a few legislation prohibiting avenue begging. Is our authorities additionally abiding by the half within the structure that it should make sure the welfare of residents? Their failure has caused hardship. You’ll be able to’t have extra hardship and never anticipate individuals to not resort to begging. It’s like beating a toddler and telling him to not cry. That’s the highest type of wickedness.
“The federal government ought to have a look at what they’re doing that’s making individuals to beg and to not go onerous on individuals begging. It isn’t justifiable. Persons are begging as a result of they haven’t any job to do. Deal with that and also you received’t see individuals begging. Set up them; create a marketplace for them when you can not make use of them. ‘’
The Nation Director of Amnesty Worldwide, Sanusi Isa, criticised the minister for criminalising poverty together with his statements.
He stated, “We imagine that the minister mustn’t attempt to criminalise poverty. That method may be very incorrect, goes towards the rule of legislation, and fails to recognise that society performs a job in creating individuals’s circumstances. Presenting them as a nuisance or as undesirable human beings is unlucky, and it portrays the federal government as being unaware of how societies evolve.
“We name on the minister to retract his statements and as a substitute give attention to defending all segments of society, together with these he refers to as beggars. Nobody chooses to be a beggar; it’s not one thing prestigious that individuals aspire to. Many individuals are victims of years of corruption, unhealthy insurance policies, and the rampant misappropriation of public funds that disadvantaged them of safety, leaving them weak to such situations.
“Relatively than resorting to arrests, which remedy nothing, the minister ought to think about establishing a social safety scheme for beggars. If these measures had been in place, they wouldn’t be on the streets. What I anticipated from the minister was an announcement about initiating a social safety program, not arrests.”
Reacting to the criminalisation of begging by each the legal and penal codes, Isa stated, “There are lots of criminalised actions within the structure that individuals interact in each day. Why are we extra centered on what the poor are doing? The structure mandates the federal government to guard its individuals. Is the federal government defending them? Are individuals not paying ransoms each day in Nigeria? If we need to uphold the legislation, we must also work to get rid of the outdated legal guidelines from colonial instances.
On its half, the Socio-Financial Rights Accountability Mission threatened to sue Wike if he makes good his menace of arresting beggars.
In a submit on its official X deal with, #SerapNigeria, on Wednesday, it said that nobody must be criminalised for his or her socio-economic standing.
The group urged him to handle the socio-economic rights of marginalised people within the FCT.
“The Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, should instantly withdraw his apparently illegal menace to arrest beggars in Abuja or face authorized motion. Nobody must be criminalised for partaking in life-sustaining financial actions or due to their financial or social standing.
“Mr Wike should handle the plight of these experiencing homelessness and people dwelling in poverty in Abuja and never demonise and criminalise them,” the submit learn.
A number of calls to the Head of Media and Public Relations on the FCT Social Growth Secretariat, Sunday Shaka, on Thursday went unanswered.
The unit, which oversees issues associated to beggars, the poor, and the destitute within the FCT, was contacted to inquire about any potential plans to empower beggars within the nation’s capital. However no response was given.
