A total of 94 persons, including street beggars and homeless individuals, have been evacuated from various locations in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, for constituting social disturbance and nuisance.

The evacuation and planned repatriation of the street beggars, comprising 43 females and 51 males, was coordinated by the State Commissioner for Social Welfare and Development, Hajia Maryam Nnafatima Imam, on Tuesday evening.

The exercise also involved officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service in the state and officials from the Ministry at popular locations such as Geri Alimi, Tanke Junction, Offa Garage, Tipper Garage, and Zango, among others.

Speaking with journalists during the exercise, the Commissioner said that the State Government had previously carried out two repatriation exercises, stressing that street begging is not permitted in Kwara State.

“We are actually repatriating and evacuating the street beggars. The reason is that we’ve made a lot of jingles before now to sensitise the public and ensure they are well informed that street begging is a no-no in Kwara State. And we’ve carried out about two repatriations before now, where we evacuated the street beggars.

“One thing we do is that we have a Ministry Magistrate who sentences them for one week, or depending on the kind of punishment stipulated. For the children, we ensure that we take care of them until the period when the parents complete their terms of community service. We are in collaboration with the Correctional Centre, and they’ve been doing a commendable job. We sincerely appreciate them.

“We sincerely appreciate the administration of Mallam Abdurrahman Abdurrazaq for his efforts to ensure that Kwara State is free of street begging, street hawking, and other social menaces around us,” she said.

The Commissioner noted that the Kwara State Government was always in communication with the governments of the respective states of origin of the street beggars before repatriating them.

She urged members of the public who patronise street beggars to desist, stating, “You know, people want to give alms. So, if you want to give alms, there are better ways. Go to mosques or churches, go to orphanage homes, go to centres where people truly need assistance. Stop patronising beggars.

“We want to urge the public to please refrain from patronising beggars. It’s a menace in the society.”

Also speaking, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Drug Abuse, Prevention and Control, Mallam Haliru Olamilekan Mikail, said that many individuals posing as beggars are actually involved in drug peddling.

“This exercise is not just about street begging alone. It’s about the security of our people. Some of these individuals are informants. These days, we talk about kidnapping and all that. They are not just there to beg for money.

“Do you know that some people brought them there to work for them? So this is why, as much as we are clamping down on street begging, we are also ensuring that our society is safe.

“We’ve done the advocacy on the radio. There is a lot of information on the radio and social media. It’s a continuous process.

“When we take in some and others arrive, we go again." (Nigerian Tribune)