The Kwara State government on Wednesday evacuated 94 beggars from the streets of Ilorin, the state capital.
The government said the beggars will be prosecuted and repatriated after proper profiling.
According to the state government, the evacuation and planned repatriation of the street beggars comprising 43 females and 51 males, was coordinated by the Commissioner for Social Welfare and Development, Dr Mariam Imam.
The special assistant to the governor on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control, Mikail Aileru, officers of the National Correctional Service and officials of the ministry also participated in the evacuation of the beggars.
The exercise was conducted at popular locations in Ilorin metropolis, including as Garin Alimi, Tanke Junction, Offa Garage, Tipper Garage and Zango, among others.
The team lead, Dr Imam emphasised that the state government had done two repatriation exercises of street beggars before now, stressing that street begging is not allowed in the state.
“We are actually repatriating and evacuating the streets beggars. The reason is that we’ve made a lot of jingles before now to sensitise the public and make sure that they are well informed that street begging is a no-no in Kwara State. And we’ve done about two repatriations before now where we evacuated the streets beggars.
“And one thing we do is that, we have the ministry’s Magistrate where they (beggars) are served sentence for one week or depending on the kind of punishment that is stipulated.
“For the children, we make sure that we take care of them till the period when the parents finish their terms of community service activities. We are in collaboration with the Correctional Centre and they’ve been doing a lovely job for us. We sincerely appreciate them,” she said.
The Commissioner also commended Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for his efforts at ensuring that Kwara State is free of street begging and street hawking and other social menace.
Imam said that the state government was always in touch with the governments of states of origin of the street beggars before they were returned to their respective states.
She admonished members of the public, whom she said patronise the street beggars to desist, saying that, “You know, people want to give alms. So, if you want to give alms, there are better ways to give alms. Go to mosque or churches, go to the orphanage homes, go to centres where people truly need assistance. Stop patronising beggars.
“We want to urge the public to please refrain from patronising the beggars. It’s a menace in the society.”
