Curbing The Menace Of Street Begging In FCT

On the 12th of December, 1991, Abuja replaced Lagos as the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria with a geographical address named Aso-Rock as the seat of government by the then Military Administration headed by General Ibrahim Babangida .

Subsequently, most government agencies, headquarters of parastatals, private business head offices and the likes were moved to Abuja.

Based on the development, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, became a breeding ground for greener pasture within and outside the shores of the country.

Over time, the population kept growing in a geometric progression which led to over-crowding and over stretching of infrastructure as being experienced at the moment.

Sadly so, the influx of different categories of people have rendered the town to lose its status as the Federal Capital Territory .

At the advent of the nation’s nascent democracy with President Olusegun Obasanjo at the helms of affairs, FCT was administered by Mallam Nasir El-rufai who put in so much efforts to raise the standard of basic infrastructure by creating and opening up other suburbs to decongest the city center.

At that time, the streets of Abuja was very serene, clean and free from indiscriminate hawking, begging, and other vices that promote unfavorable conditions of the status of a modern city.

A taskforce was subsequently created to fight street menace and tackle every form of misnomer associated around the city center.

Unfortunately after the end of that administration, everything the then minister initiated started collapsing.

No thanks to the insurgency in some parts of the country which made it possible for all and sundry to see Abuja as economic survival.

The notion that Abuja is a place for all with the intention of abusing and littering the environment with all types of excesses, depletes its status as the nation’s capital and even more embarrassing, the capital of the giant of Africa- Nigeria!.

Let it be known that poverty is not associated to Nigeria alone.

There are also low income earners or unemployed people who are economically less empowered that live in other capital cities of the world, yet such cities still maintains its decorum.

Today, the streets of Abuja are alarmingly filled with men, women and children who have taken up the trade of begging as an occupation.

Shockingly, some scrupulous individuals freight these women and children to designated spots for the purpose of begging and at the end of the day come back to take stock of the amount they have made.

Although it is a fact that the act of begging has been institutionalized in every part of the country however, Abuja should be an exception where other states would borrow a leaf from.

Street begging expose children to all manner of criminality ranging from sex trafficking, armed robbery, rapist , molestation and the likes.

The act of street begging has also contributed to the rapid decay of Abuja and its environs as some streets are so unkempt and filled with stench.

Many of the women and children indulge in the trade can be rehabilitated into a society for the purpose of contributing their quota to the development of the nation.

It is therefore the responsibility of the FCT Minister Ezenwo Nyeson Wike and other relevant authorities to put a stop to the ugly trend of street begging.

It is also important for a law to be propagated to put an end to street begging and by so doing place Abuja on the echelon it deserve.

By Ejioro Emuejevorke, By Edited Grace Namiji