VINCENT KURAUN takes a look at the activities of school-age children begging on the streets of Lagos and why they chose to remain on the road despite the harsh conditions.
WEIGHED down by the many socio-economic hardships plaguing the country, people living below and along the poverty line often engage in unsafe, immoral and even nefarious activities and vices in their bids to fend for themselves and put food on the table. For those who are afraid of breaking the law and/or hurting others by engaging in illicit activities to make ends meet, they usually resort to begging. This category of young, middle-aged and elderly people is often bound together by the motivation that they have no other option left.
For many years, people who are into begging are often found in crowded places and/or high-end places in cosmopolitan areas where they are usually at the mercy of passers-by some of whom may include good-spirit persons who offer them alms.
But present developments indicate that these beggars have now relocated into high-end areas where they can find Good Samaritans in posh housing estates and environments. That is the current situation of beggars Sunday Tribune found in Lekki, a posh section of Lagos State.
Both in the posh and less posh areas where they are usually found, some even devised a means to cloud their alms business with the provision of in-traffic services such as washing windscreens of vehicles or selling odds-and-ends that people on the road or those stuck in traffic congestions need.
Oftentimes, children and young adults, who engage in begging, wander from one car window to another during traffic build-up with a small cut-to-size mopping stick in one hand and the other hand used to gesture for alms. Cleaning the windshields with soap and/or water is their secondary means of income, the first is to get commuters to part away with a little money they consider as alms.
“Mummy, please buy food for me in the name of God,” was what Mrs Uzoma, a Lagos resident, who puts this in perspective, was told after one of the kids wiped off dirt from her side window at Osapa London. She told Sunday Tribune that she was on her way to visit her daughter who resides in Lekki phase 2 when the incident happened.
She recalled that the girl, about six years of age, had in her hands a bottle of water and a short mopping stick with which she mopped the window on the driver’s side of the vehicle.
“That road is not safe at night,” she said, adding that, “in that moment, I was startled and wondered what was going on, even in so-called Lekki.”
Like Mrs Uzoma’s experience, the growing number of children below 18 years begging on the Lekki-Epe expressway has assumed a different dimension. Many of them even ply their ‘trade’ and one begins to wonder if their activities do not affect the free flow of traffic in such areas where they are seen.
It would be recalled that the state government had over time apprehended miscreants, beggars and destituteness in different areas in the state and deported them to their state while rehabilitating some of them.
Also during an interactive session with stakeholders last November, the commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mr Mobolaji Ogunlende reiterated the state’s position on street begging and the use of babies to solicit alms in any part of the state.
According to the commissioner, “We wish to state categorically that street begging or the act of using babies to solicit alms which has resurfaced in many parts of Lagos will not be condoned. Those who indulge in this unwholesome act had better look for a meaningful source of livelihood because begging does not contribute to the socioeconomic growth of any state or country.”
Why we resort to begging
Despite the ban on such activities in the state, the presence of young beggars in different parts of Lagos, particularly on the Lekki axis of the state beggars belief.
One of the recurring themes in the mouths of many of the beggars is that they have no other options left to explore other than begging.
One of the young children at Lekki axis is Ayomide, who hails from Oyo State. As a side attraction to his begging activities, Ayomide sings to entertain commuters in traffic.
“My friends here use other means to beg, but for me, I am an entertainer, I sing,” he said while fielding questions from Sunday Tribune. “Each time the traffic light stops, I entertain them by singing and when some of the people who listen to me are pleased with what I can offer, they will encourage me by giving me some money.”
He told Sunday Tribune that when they sold odds-and-ends in traffic, they were constantly harassed and extorted by law enforcement agents in the area, adding that the harassment forced them into begging for alms.
Ayomide disclosed that, on average, he makes between N2,000 to N3,000 daily even though not everyone on the road gives out alms.
“On several occasions, I will gather the little savings and buy some products to sell to make a profit but oftentimes when some of the security agencies come around, they seize our products and later demand bribes from us.
“Last week, I bought cheese ball chips to hawk from my savings. I was just returning from the market when Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) officials disguised as civilians and our products were confiscated. That left me with no other option than to start begging all over again,” he explained.
He further alleged that the authorities, KIA and Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) officials are always after their products because of what they stand to gain from them.
“Once we settle them, they will give us back our products but, in my case, I was just returning from the market and I had no money left on me, and once you have no money to bribe them, they will go away with the products,” Ayomide added.
He added that the ‘settlement’ demanded by the officials varies depending on what the offender sells.
He said: “It is grade by grade. For example, for people selling phone accessories, the settlement range is between N5,000 to N7,000, while that of those selling soft drinks is from N2,000 and above. Things like cheese balls are also between N2,000 and N3,000. Usually, after their operation, they drive down to the Law School area and wait for us to come and do our settlement.”
Another destitute, Chibuike, who is also a dancer told Sunday Tribune that he has nowhere else to go. When asked about the whereabouts of his parents, he said: “My mother is from Nigeria, but my father is from Togo.”
Israel, who claims to be from Kwara State, said he also has nowhere to go like the others.
“I don’t know the whereabouts of my father. My mother is married to another man with five children. How can I go back to my mother who already has children to look after me? And her new husband is not doing well. This street is where I hustle and send money to my mother sometimes.”
Others who spoke with Sunday Tribune also corroborated claims of harassment by policemen, KIA and Neighbourhood officers who always go after street hawkers in the area. They cited an incident that took place a fortnight ago where some of them were arrested by the police and relocated to Osun State.
Two of the boys, who were among those taken to Osun State, claimed they were dropped in the bush by the police without minding if they would survive or not. They alleged that during the operation, one of them was killed.
According to them, a police officer used the butt of his gun to hit the victim on the head.
One of them, Ayo, who hails from Oyo State, said they were not even allowed to explain where they came from, adding that “they didn’t even ask about my state of origin. We were loaded in some buses and driven down to a large bush in Ilesha.”
“Our phones were collected from us and the little amount of cash we had on us was also collected.
“During the trip, we were given some food and some drugs to take. Some of our friends who ate the food quickly fell asleep soon after eating, but for me and Joseph who hails from Ogun State, we did not eat the food.
“That is the reason we were able to come back. We are yet to see those that were picked up alongside us and we can’t tell exactly what has happened to them. It all happened like magic, we were all sleeping under the bridge when they came and started picking us up,” Ayo explained.
It will also be recalled that the commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State, Gbenga Omotosho, disclosed that 371 of 450 miscreants, beggars and destitute found at TBS, Ajah and Island areas were relocated to their home state during a state-wide exercise to free the state from “visible security risks.”
‘We have nowhere to go’
In spite of the government efforts, many of the beggars and destitute still find their way back to Lagos streets where they make ends meet.
Narrating his ordeal to Sunday Tribune, one of the youths, named Mubarak from Ibadan, alleged that he was, at some point, arrested by policemen and subsequently spent two months in Badagry prison.
“I was just sleeping under the bridge when I was picked up and was made to spend two months in the prison in Badagry that is not habitable. Look at my face and my legs, full of cuts and bruises, I was feasted on by cockroaches and other terrible insects in the place where I was kept,” he narrated.
According to Mobarak, the police have no specific time to come for their arrest, as they come after beggars in the morning, afternoon or evening but it is more rampant at night when they are sleeping under the bridge.
Speaking in the same vein, Abdulhamid who hails from Lagos also told Sunday Tribune that they decided to hang around the road because there was nowhere for them to go, even though the authorities are making life very difficult for them.
“They are making life very difficult for us. When you are selling in the traffic, your products will be taken away from you and when you are still begging, you will still be arrested by the authorities who most of the time, disguise as passers-by when coming to arrest us. So, what we do now is to beg and watch out,” he said.
Children spared the rod
Sunday Tribune, however, learnt that the enforcement officials spare children whenever they raid the area because they are young and feeble.
“The policemen are not after the children because they are still small, but when they are big like us, they will start going after them as well.
“For instance, some of the girls among us here are small but because of their height, they are always looking out for the police because they can be arrested too.
“Even when they are picked up by the police, their mothers who are always by the roadside watching over them will quickly get them bailed out.
“Their mothers are not the target here because they are not always on the road with them. They send the children out into the traffic and whatever they get is taken back to them,” Chibuike, one of them said.
Narrating how they found themselves in Lagos, the quartet of Adam from Kano, Ibrahim from Abuja, Amodu from Kaduna and Abdusalam from Abuja, told Sunday Tribune they had formed a bond in Abuja and that informed their relocation from the northern part of the country to beg for alms in Lagos.
“We were together in the Abuja community. We played together and when my aunt offered to help me, I told my other friends and we both decided to follow a trailer that was coming to Lagos.
“This other girl here came through her grandmother because her mother is dead and she has no one. Her grandmother is here with her. Whatever she gets in the traffic here, her grandmother will collect it and keep it for her,” Adam explained.
Some of the boys who escaped being arrested by police last week are Ismail and Akin. Narrating their experience, Ismahi said he had to run into Jakande to evade police arrest.
“We were sleeping when I started hearing, ‘they done come oh.’ Immediately, we started running and we found ourselves in Jakande estate.
“I have been on this road since childhood. I am from Adeniyi in Lagos Island. We hustle and sleep in the open here because we have nowhere to go,” Akin said.
While the government continues to hunt for beggars and destitute on the streets, the young folks Sunday Tribune met on the road pleaded with the authorities to support them rather than making their lives a living hell.
Meanwhile, a senior Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) officer in the area who preferred not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the issue told Sunday Tribune that “their job on the road is to maintain the free flow of traffic and he is not in the position to talk about nuisances caused by the children begging.”
According to him, “I am aware that from time to time, the police do come to raid them, so I believe the police force or the DPO will be in the better position to talk about the issue.”
Efforts made to speak with the Police Public Relations Officer in Lagos State, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, on the issue were not successful as of press time, but a check on his X (Twitter) platform indicated that the police occasionally apprehend people who constitute a security risk in black spots in the state even though it was not involved in the recent relocation of beggars to Osun State.
“The command, in keeping with its mandates of prevention and detection of crime, conducts raids of black spots from time to time and promptly arraigns only culpable suspects in courts of competent jurisdiction in the state after a thorough screening of the people raided.
“The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Adegoke Fayoade, assures the good people of Lagos State that the Command would continue to prioritise their safety and security at all times,” the statement read.
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