A City of Beggars, by Kene Obiezu

Nyesom Wike may have misplaced many passes during his time as the Minister of the FCT, but on his planned removal of street beggars from Abuja, the intense and indefatigable former Rivers State governor seems to have hit the mark with uncanny accuracy. It is simple: beggars cannot be allowed to hang around Abuja anymore. Their wretched existence and enterprise deface Nigeria’s capital. The irritants they have become disgust Nigeria’s establishment to no end.

If this position appears elitist, there is very only very little wrong a country that should be doing everything to rid itself of begging can do in the society. To be clear, begging is a symptom and not a cause of Nigeria’s problems. A country where begging is lucrative employment for many is a country that is not getting something right.

For Wike, moving the beggars out of Abuja is a priority, but where will they be moved to? Most importantly, what can be done to urgently wean them of a habit, hobby, and handiwork that they are prepared not only to do all their lives but pass on to their children like some cherished heirloom?

The government must go beyond the crater to seek the cure. Why are there so many beggars in Nigeria? It is worth remembering that those referred to as “beggars” by Wike are only a fraction of the beggars in Nigeria. There are more beggars elsewhere and on the streets of social media than any street in Nigeria can contain. All of them form Nigeria’s humiliated horde, those who have been dehumanized by Nigeria, dumped on the streets and forced to eat from hand to mouth.

There are many who tired of their wretched existence in their rural villages find their way to cities to beg. Begging from morning to night in strategic locations, they soon begin to make enough money to send back home. Encouraged by how lucrative the venture is, some of their relations soon join them in the city to join the begging business.

How about the almajiri children who clog many public spaces in Nigeria, unwashed and unkempt, with ringworm and eczema battling over every inch of space on their skin? The trauma caused to innocent children of that age range in the name of Islamic religious education is simply unthinkable. It is heartbreaking that it is religion that enables that kind of systemic dehumanization of kids that emphasizes begging, child neglect and child poverty.

As president until 2015, Goodluck Jonathan floated and sunk billions of public funds into building schools in the North in a bid to take almajiri children off the street, rehabilitate them and prepare them for a better future. Today, the schools lie moribund, suffocated by a poisonous cocktail of religion, superstition and poor maintenance culture. Many of them celebrated his defeat in the 2015 elections not minding that they were celebrating the end of their hopes.

A country where children who should be in school are begging for a living is one with unaccountable problems. A country where women spread helpless toddlers like rags under the sun and thrust out bottomless begging bowls to passersby right in the heart of its capital city is a country sitting on a time bomb.

Many of the children reduced to begging by poverty and neglect now form the prolific pool into which terrorists dip to recruit conscripts. Yet, Nigeria wonders why its war against terror refuses to end.

Wike said that the beggars were a source of embarrassment as well as security threats in the FCT. He was not far from the truth. His method of dealing with the menace is what appears to be far from effective.

Experience has shown that once removed, these beggars find a way to return or simply reinvent themselves and transport their begging bowls to different locations as long as those locations are lucrative.

What Nigeria needs is a permanent solution to the menace of street begging, which will be no simple task. Its root causes of systemic poverty and inequality must be addressed firstly.

Already, those who beg are dehumanized by the poverty of their chosen enterprise. Many of them are left with no choice in the face of life’s raging hardships. Restoring their dignity should be at the core of finding any solutions aimed at rehabilitating them.

Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com