BY JUDE OSSAI / ENUGU
Enugu the Enugu State Capital is witnessing an upsurge of street beggars for sometime now, investigation has revealed.
Checks showed that most of these beggars scattered over the streets of Enugu metropolis came from neighbouring Ebonyi State.
Some of the Enugu residents interviewed blamed the prevailing harsh economy and the principle of inequality for the growing number of beggars in the state and across the country.
To Safiu Kehinde in one of his essays, noted that begging is as old as human history, saying that it is a practice that has endured for centuries.
According to him, “We experience birth more or less equally, but afterward, life never treats us the same,” stressing that life chooses to turn its bright side to some and leave others in darkness.
“Fortune and misfortune do take a toll on humans unequally. All in all, we are all predestined to fall on either side of a two-sided coin”, he stated.
In the Coal City, as Enugu metropolis is fondly called by its admirers because of large presence of coal mineral deposits in the town, it is obvious that these beggars lack the necessities of life which include shelter, clothing, and food. For this reason, therefore, the beggars rely on alms for their continued existence as they receive gifts by either wandering from place to place in search of good samaritans or seated in a particular spot.
Ikechukwu Stephen Okorie, of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in his research work entitled: “Spatiality of Street Begging and Beggars in Enugu State Metropolis Southeast Nigeria” dated November 2022, stated, “Findings showed that street beggars are adopting new patterns and spatiality which are not well known by the masses.
Of the one hundred and eight five beggars selected as sample, 60.3% of them carry out their activities in the market, motor parks 23.1%, churches 11.4% and traffic lights 5.2%. It was observed that 40% of the beggars use terminally ill persons to beg, begging with hired new born babies 24%, begging for charity and church envelop 18%, corporate begging/beggars 11% and ATM spot beggars 7%.
“The study noted that 75.1% of the female street beggars are sexually exploited, 24.8% for males.
“On Kidnapping risk, 71.3% of the female street beggars are afraid of being kidnapped, 28.6% of the males face the risk of getting kidnapped. Accident 75.6% of Female Street beggars risk being hit by cars, 24.3% of males face such risk. Physical assault 58.3% of the female”, he stated.
It would be recalled that the State Commissioner for Gender Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Peace Nnaji had proposed a law to prohibit street begging by men, woman and children in Enugu.
Mrs Nnaji said this in Enugu during an oversight function by the Enugu State House of Assembly Committee on Gender to the Ministry.
The State Commissioner said that Enugu state had passed the child rights bill, adding that the state is also faced with the menace of street beggars.
“We witnessed a case of a woman who pretended to have cancer of the breast; we caught her and took her to the rehabilitation centre to check her; it was discovered that she was doing that to attract sympathy.
“We also discovered a woman who pretended to be blind while she was not; these are the things we are seeing in the ministry.
“This is how Boko Haram started in the North.
“We have about 100 destitute at the rehabilitation centre that the state government is taking care of,” she said.
Nnaji stated that with the collaboration of the wife of the governor, Mrs Monica Ugwuanyi, the Ministry was able to empower 696 women on various skills such as tailoring, farming carpentry and others.
She said that the Ministry had settled over 1000 family disputes adding that some of them were still in court in order to make them comply with some of the decisions of the Ministry.
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