Activists Want Beggars Off Lagos Roads

Some Nigerians have expressed concern over the increasing number of beggars in Lagos and would want the state government to move them away from the streets.

Mr. Edwin Lebeolisa, a member of Africa in Democracy and Good Governance (ADG), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that a state like Lagos could not afford to be branded a “beggars’ state.”

Miss Lara Akande, a facilitator with the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), an NGO, said that the women among the beggars, carried their babies along the roads.

She urged the state government to create a rehabilitation centre for the beggars, where they would be taken care of.

Akande said that begging portrayed that a country “is poor and lacking in human resource management”.

She said that if the roads and streets were rid of beggars, it would save the image of the country.

Mrs. Funmi Macauley, a leader of the Catholic Women’s Organisation, said there was every need to clear beggars from the roads.

She said that visitors arriving in Nigeria could have a negative impression of the country on sighting an assembly of beggars on the roads.

Macauley said the picture “it paints is one of poverty and poor economy and this must be avoided.”

She suggested that there should be a stop to loitering of beggars in Lagos.

Macauley urged the state authorities to take necessary steps to ensure that this is done.