Governor Fashola, .your artrocious actions are having ripple effects.... Read this. !!! FEAR has gripped the destitute in Lagos State after the deportation of some beggars to Onitsha, Anambra State, by the Lagos State Government. While some of the destitute persons just beg for alms for survival, others do so due to the state of their disabilities. Karima Mohammed, 12, from Kano, sells food in Ile-Ewe, Ikotun. But after selling her food, she goes to meet her mother, Sadia, at Ikotun Roundabout to beg for alms. “There is no market. Government wahala (trouble) is too much. I sell rice in Ile Ewe. I used to go to Arabic school by 5pm. My mother is here. My father, Musa is a carpenter based in Kano,” she said. Her mother, Sadia, said she is begging to eke a living. “If the government can assist me, I will like to open a canteen. I am afraid of the government. I don’t want them to send us back to Kano,” she explained. There are many other people like her at Ikotun Roundabout. They sell food in the evening but during the day they turn beggars. They don’t pretend to be blind or crippled they are just normal human beings that combined begging with their work that cannot sustain them. Like Sadia, Rabia Mohammed from Kano State, a caterer also begs for alms. “I am a caterer but I don’t have the resources to open a shop. I want the government to help me to be gainfully employed,” she said. Adamu Ibrahim, a cripple from Kebbi State, is also combining begging with shoemaking. He regretted the deportation of some destitute to their states by the Lagos State Government. “Government has not done much to help me. I have a wife and two children. I need money to send my children to school. My wife is FEAR has gripped the destitute in Lagos State after the deportation of some beggars to Onitsha, Anambra State, by the Lagos State Government. While some of the destitute persons just beg for alms for survival, others do so due to the state of their disabilities. Karima Mohammed, 12, from Kano, sells food in Ile-Ewe, Ikotun. But after selling her food, she goes to meet her mother, Sadia, at Ikotun Roundabout to beg for alms. “There is no market. Government wahala (trouble) is too much. I sell rice in Ile Ewe. I used to go to Arabic school by 5pm. My mother is here. My father, Musa is a carpenter based in Kano,” she said. Her mother, Sadia, said she is begging to eke a living. “If the government can assist me, I will like to open a canteen. I am afraid of the government. I don’t want them to send us back to Kano,” she explained. There are many other people like her at Ikotun Roundabout. They sell food in the evening but during the day they turn beggars. They don’t pretend to be blind or crippled they are just normal human beings that combined begging with their work that cannot sustain them. Like Sadia, Rabia Mohammed from Kano State, a caterer also begs for alms. “I am a caterer but I don’t have the resources to open a shop. I want the government to help me to be gainfully employed,” she said. Adamu Ibrahim, a cripple from Kebbi State, is also combining begging with shoemaking. He regretted the deportation of some destitute to their states by the Lagos State Government. “Government has not done much to help me. I have a wife and two children. I need money to send my children to school. My wife is not working either. She is in Kebbi State,” he said. Since the deportation saga, he said, he could not sleep with his eyes closed because he is afraid of being deported to his state. “It is my condition that has made me a beggar. I am a Nigerian and I believe that I should be able to live in any part of Nigeria,” he said. In Kebbi State, he said, sometimes the government gives the destitute money and food. “But people like me are many. Whatever the government can do to help us let them do it. I don’t have power,” he said soberly. People like him are many in Okobaba Destitute Home, Ebute Metta. Both Christians and Muslims go there to give them alms. About 2000 destitute persons are there. They are divided into three groups: the deaf and dumb, cripples and lepers, and the blind. “I heard it on radio that some destitute persons were deported from Lagos to the East. It is not once or twice that they had deported beggars from Lagos to the North. We learnt that about 10 of them died on the way the other time. I don’t know why the government is doing that,” said Mohammed Baba, General Secretary of Okobaba Destitute Home. He recalled that Okobaba Destitute Home is 17 years old. “The government said that we should quit the streets. We have done that,” he said. Yet, he complained that the security agents usually pick up some of their members found on the street. “Whenever they are on the way to the hospital or to visit their brothers or sisters, the security agents used to pick them up. We want them to leave us alone,” he said. Mohammed, who hails from Yobe State, said that the beggars do get married and multiply in the destitute home. “We are law abiding citizens living peacefully with our neighbours. We don’t have bad eggs among us,” he said. He regretted that whenever they go to the hospital for medication, they are always being discriminated against. He wants the government to renovate Okobaba Destitute Home for them. As for those that are yet to comply with the government directives of quitting the streets, he said that government could take necessary actions against them. “But not to deport them back to their states. They can warn them and ask them to leave the streets,” he said. He thanked the Lagos State Government for their support. “They do give us raw food quarterly. Religiously, we are the needy. The Quran says Muslims should give to the needy ones among them. Christians also come here to give charity,” he said. He urged the government to create a special ministry for the less privileged. “The fact that we are beggars does not mean that we don’t have brains. Some of us can read and write. We can do handwork. Let the government provide the incentives for us to be useful in the society,” he said. However, a senior lecturer of Department of Political Science, University of Lagos, Dr. Samuel Ugoh, said that from the human point of view, the action of deportation is condemnable. “The government ought to liaise with the government of the affected states to find solution to the influx of destitute persons into Lagos State. It is not good to just dump the destitute somewhere outside Lagos. What are the criteria they used to determine those destitute?” he queried. He reasoned that all hands are not equal. “Some people find it difficult to afford three square meals a day. They don’t have the spirit to carry guns and rob people. In that way they have no alternative than to beg for alms. “The unemployment problem in the country is a contributory factor. Both the skilled and the unskilled are affected. If the situation continues like this, by year 2020, it can lead to a revolution,” he said. He urged the government to support the less privileged people in the country. “The government ought to assist them by giving them grants. What happened to them is not their own fault,” he said. For many destitute, he said, they believe that they will get people to assist them in Lagos. “Unlike other smaller cities where people are finding things difficult. They believe that with the population of Lagos they can get people to help them to survive,” he said. The Head of Department of Sociology, University of Lagos, Dr. Ndukaeze Nwabueze, said that Lagos has its own problems. “If everybody of a particular grade starts pouring to Lagos, whose responsibility is it to cater for them? “Lagos is a vulnerable state. I wonder if they have the capacity to continue to absorb and absorb destitute persons. But that does not make deportation right. The main problem is the character of the Nigerian state,” he said. He explained that the centre is not strong enough to hold all the 36 component states together. “And then be able to say: ‘Lagos you cannot deport a Nigerian.’ Nwabueze pointed out that the affected states do not even know what to do. “They are just waiting for the Federal Government to say something. The Federal Government is keeping quiet because it does not know what to do also.” He added further that the care for the destitute is a state matter. “The question is, to what extent is the Federal Government monitoring to ensure that the states actually take care of the destitute? In fact, the destitute are a distraction in the development process of some states. It is only the Federal Government that can douse the tension by making a declaratory statement,” he said. Nwabueze disclosed that, it is the duty of the government to provide gainful employment to its citizens. “But the welfare of the ordinary man is not their priority. The government officials may paint rosy pictures of what they are doing for the destitute in their states but you will not see anything on ground for them to show for it. Otherwise, why did the destitute leave Anambra in search of greener pastures in Lagos? Why did those people not stop in other states before they got to Lagos?” Constitutionally, he said, “Everybody has the right to freedom of movement, but when the destitute persons go to another state they need to be taken care of. But by who? That is the question.” economy pointed out that among the normal population we have people who are worse than the destitute persons and little emphasis is placed on peoples’ welfare by the government. He added that without energy the economy would never move forward. “There are people who are unemployed because they have no electricity to work. Those are the “destitute of a sort” technically,” he said working either. She is in Kebbi State,” he said. Since the deportation saga, he said, he could not sleep with his eyes closed because he is afraid of being deported to his state. “It is my condition that has made me a beggar. I am a Nigerian and I believe that I should be able to live in any part of Nigeria,” he said. In Kebbi State, he said, sometimes the government gives the destitute money and food. “But people like me are many. Whatever the government can do to help us let them do it. I don’t have power,” he said soberly. People like him are many in Okobaba Destitute Home, Ebute Metta. Both Christians and Muslims go there to give them alms. About 2000 destitute persons are there. They are divided into three groups: the deaf and dumb, cripples and lepers, and the blind. “I heard it on radio that some destitute persons were deported from Lagos to the East. It is not once or twice that they had deported beggars from Lagos to the North. We learnt that about 10 of them died on the way the other time. I don’t know why the government is doing that,” said Mohammed Baba, General Secretary of Okobaba Destitute Home. He recalled that Okobaba Destitute Home is 17 years old. “The government said that we should quit the streets. We have done that,” he said. Yet, he complained that the security agents usually pick up some of their members found on the street. “Whenever they are on the way to the hospital or to visit their brothers or sisters, the security agents used to pick them up. We want them to leave us alone,” he said. Mohammed, who hails from Yobe State, said that the beggars do get married and multiply in the destitute home. “We are law abiding citizens living peacefully with our neighbours. We don’t have bad eggs among us,” he said. He regretted that whenever they go to the hospital for medication, they are always being discriminated against. He wants the government to renovate Okobaba Destitute Home for them. As for those that are yet to comply with the government directives of quitting the streets, he said that government could take necessary actions against them. “But not to deport them back to their states. They can warn them and ask them to leave the streets,” he said. He thanked the Lagos State Government for their support. “They do give us raw food quarterly. Religiously, we are the needy. The Quran says Muslims should give to the needy ones among them. Christians also come here to give charity,” he said. He urged the government to create a special ministry for the less privileged. “The fact that we are beggars does not mean that we don’t have brains. Some of us can read and write. We can do handwork. Let the government provide the incentives for us to be useful in the society,” he said. However, a senior lecturer of Department of Political Science, University of Lagos, Dr. Samuel Ugoh, said that from the human point of view, the action of deportation is condemnable. “The government ought to liaise with the government of the affected states to find solution to the influx of destitute persons into Lagos State. It is not good to just dump the destitute somewhere outside Lagos. What are the criteria they used to determine those destitute?” he queried. He reasoned that all hands are not equal. “Some people find it difficult to afford three square meals a day. They don’t have the spirit to carry guns and rob people. In that way they have no alternative than to beg for alms. “The unemployment problem in the country is a contributory factor. Both the skilled and the unskilled are affected. If the situation continues like this, by year 2020, it can lead to a revolution,” he said. He urged the government to support the less privileged people in the country. “The government ought to assist them by giving them grants. What happened to them is not their own fault,” he said. For many destitute, he said, they believe that they will get people to assist them in Lagos. “Unlike other smaller cities where people are finding things difficult. They believe that with the population of Lagos they can get people to help them to survive,” he said. The Head of Department of Sociology, University of Lagos, Dr. Ndukaeze Nwabueze, said that Lagos has its own problems. “If everybody of a particular grade starts pouring to Lagos, whose responsibility is it to cater for them? “Lagos is a vulnerable state. I wonder if they have the capacity to continue to absorb and absorb destitute persons. But that does not make deportation right. The main problem is the character of the Nigerian state,” he said. He explained that the centre is not strong enough to hold all the 36 component states together. “And then be able to say: ‘Lagos you cannot deport a Nigerian.’ Nwabueze pointed out that the affected states do not even know what to do. “They are just waiting for the Federal Government to say something. The Federal Government is keeping quiet because it does not know what to do also.” He added further that the care for the destitute is a state matter. “The question is, to what extent is the Federal Government monitoring to ensure that the states actually take care of the destitute? In fact, the destitute are a distraction in the development process of some states. It is only the Federal Government that can douse the tension by making a declaratory statement,” he said. Nwabueze disclosed that, it is the duty of the government to provide gainful employment to its citizens. “But the welfare of the ordinary man is not their priority. The government officials may paint rosy pictures of what they are doing for the destitute in their states but you will not see anything on ground for them to show for it. Otherwise, why did the destitute leave Anambra in search of greener pastures in Lagos? Why did those people not stop in other states before they got to Lagos?” Constitutionally, he said, “Everybody has the right to freedom of movement, but when the destitute persons go to another state they need to be taken care of. But by who? That is the question.” He pointed out that among the normal population we have people who are worse than the destitute persons and little emphasis is placed on peoples’ welfare by the government. He added that without energy the economy would never move forward. “There are people who are unemployed because they have no electricity to work. Those are the “destitute of a sort” technically,” he said
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 14:09:00 +0000
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