The ban on street begging by the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike and the directive to pick the beggars off the streets commenced today with 15 beggars and 19 scavengers arrested across the nation’s capital.
The operations that had a combined force of the Police, Military, DSS, NSCDC, and other paramilitary agencies were deployed in four groups to different locations of the city centre, in search of beggars and miscreants who hibernate under bridges, shanties and tunnels, reports Nigerian Tribune.
It would be recalled that the FCT Minister issued a warning on 22 October to roadside beggars to desist from the act or risk being arrested by enforcement agents.
He lamented that the number of people who stay on the road is alarming, which poses a threat to security in the metropolis.
FCT Police Commissioner, Olatunji Disu who termed the operation as “a national assignment”, also addressed the operatives along other heads of security agencies, directing that officers involved in the enforcement must be professional, but uncompromising in carrying out the Ministerial orders.
Disu noted that the operations would last for two weeks, after which the strategies would be reevaluated and reinvigorated.
Disu said, “this operation will last for the first two weeks. We will come back and assess our achievements, then we will go back if there is a need for us to continue it”.
Speaking on the first day of the operations, the Director, FCTA Security Services Department, Adamu Gwari said the operations would be conducted day and night in order to achieve the desired results.
The Director who was represented by Dr. Peter Olumuji explained that the first day operations had four groups that were “ sectorized into 4 sectors. We have the metro, which is the city centre. We have the airport road that covers the entire airport road from city gates up to Bill Clinton road. We also have the Kubwa axis that covers the Kubwa, Gwarimpa up to Dei Dei. And we have the last group that covers Asokoro, AYA, Nyanya, Karu, Jikwoyi. All these will carry out the operation simultaneously.
He disclosed that while no beggar was arrested in the city centre, because they have all gone into hiding, he however, said that the operations successfully arrested 15 beggars and 19 scavengers from different locations.
“We realised that most of them have actually heard the voice of the minister. Notwithstanding, we have one or two that are still trying to test the water and we have been able to apprehend them. We also have 15 beggars and 19 scavengers that we have picked up in various sectors and we are still counting”, he added.
Also speaking, the Head of Enforcement, Abuja Environmental Protection Board ( AEBP) Kaka Bello said the operations is not just about beggars, but sanitizing the city of every nuisance.
Bello noted that roadside traders and all technicians who operate at all illegal places would be touched and evacuated during this Ministerial operation in Abuja.
On what becomes the fate of the arrested beggars, the Director Social Welfare, FCTA, Dr. Sani Rabe, said they would be taken to government’s rehabilitation center located at Kuchikon, Bwari Area council, where they would be properly profiled.
According to him, those who are trainable would be given the opportunity to learn some skills for personal empowerment, while those who are not willing to acquire skills would be repatriated to their states of origin.
