Gloria Ikegbule

Everywhere you turn in Lagos, your eyes are confronted with beggars.

Common in most busy cities in Nigeria, you see beggars, young, old, male and female, soliciting alms from passers-by. Most times, their comportment evokes so much pity that their targets part with some money, no matter how small.

Despite government’s threats to decisively deal with these sets of people for the nuisance they constitute, the number of beggars on the streets continues to soar, their antics are endless, and their zeal is renewed every day.

Over the years, begging has become a source of livelihood for many families. They are seen at strategic locations with heavy human traffic. Some are well dressed while others look tattered. But all of them go out with the goal of smiling home with something good.

On this particular afternoon in August, a dark-complexioned young conductor jumped from a moving yellow commercial bus along Airport Road in Lagos. While the lad laboured to persuade more passengers to board his vehicle, the seated commuters in the bus were being entertained by some female beggars, who were making incoherent rhythms with their cymbals.

The two women, who were in dark glasses, were separately led by two children, a boy and a girl between the ages of six and 10, who were the ones calling for help for their mothers. Luck smiled on them as they received alms from the passengers, who perhaps wanted to send them away simply for peace to reign.

In different parts of Lagos, children below the age of 10 are often seen running after passers-by, clutching at people’s hands or clothes and beseeching them to part with some money. Some stubborn ones would cling to their would-be benefactors, harassing them until they get what they want. Curiously, the children do all the work while their parents or guardians watch from a corner, expecting prompt remittance of money received from Good Samaritans.

Some of the beggars feign one illness or the other. Some others also source for really sick people with visible wounds or deformity to arouse people’s pity. On their part, the innocent children perfectly convey the mood and deliver the script given to them by their masters.

In Lagos, government has maintained it would not condone any act that takes advantage of the innocence of the Nigerian child. Recently, it re-echoed its position through the office of the Lagos State permanent secretary, Ministry of Youths and Social Development that it was poised to end the era of adults exploiting and using children to beg in the state.

Apart from government’s stance in curtailing the menace, parents and other stakeholders have also expressed worries about child begging.

Vice chancellor of Christopher University, Mowe, Ogun State, Prof. Friday Ndubuisi, noted that child begging was bad, immoral and degrading to society. He said it was saddening to see children of school age begging in the streets, instead of being in the classroom preparing for a better future.

His words: “Child begging is a sign of failure on the part of governments, parents and the society. Education is the most visible platform to prepare for a robust future. It is disheartening that a whole lot of youngsters are not given this opportunity hence, loads of them are in the streets as beggars.”

Related News

According to the educationist, these beggars are a potential manpower but are being wasted and left to become parasites to society.”

Ndubuisi added that there was a need for legislation and the political will to enforce laws that protect child rights. In his view, parents that allow or send their children to the streets to beg should be prosecuted. And for the negligence, he said the state could also take over the training of such children and deny their parents access to them.

A legal practitioner, Mr. Hygienus Chukwu, stated that street begging was inimical to the moral, physical and spiritual wellbeing of any child. He noted that it easily exposes a child to various vices such as stealing, sexual abuse and other abnormal behaviours, which must be discouraged.

He said the law vehemently frowns on street begging by minors, and those who procure minors for either cheap labour or begging, hawking or prostitution should be punished.

“For instance, Section 28 (1) and (2) of the Child’s Right Act frowns on engaging a child for exploitative labour, while same Section 28 (3) of same law recommends a fine of N50,000 or five years imprisonment or both. Equally, Section 30 (1) of the same law stipulates that no person shall buy, sell, hire or dispose of or obtain possession of or otherwise deal in a child as itemised in Section 30 (2) (a to f). Whosoever is found guilty of the above offence as in Section 30 (1) shall be convicted to imprisonment for a term of 10 years. The law has shown that punishing culprits will serve as a deterrent to others.

“For now, there is no known law in Nigeria against adults who choose to make their living through begging. Take note that the Islamic religion encourages begging, especially by Almajiris. Even in Christianity, giving alms is encouraged.”

An actress, Queen Blessing Ebigieson, maintained that no kind of begging should be encouraged, let alone child begging.

“When parents bring children into the world, it is their responsibility to properly cater for those children. If for any reason they have financial crisis, they should sort themselves out. It is totally unacceptable to subject your child or children to begging to feed the family when it should be the other way round. There is no excuse whatsoever to make your child or children go begging. It is child abuse.”

A trader, Mrs. Bukky Ilugbusi, believes laziness is at the root of parents or adults subjecting a child in their care to begging. She regretted that such action denies the child the sense of independence. She observed that child begging makes children easily intimidated such that they see themselves as disadvantaged. She objected to the belief that poverty is the reason for child begging. She said that with as little as N3,000, a responsible parent could start a small-scale business to fend for the family.

But a psychologist, Dr. Celine Njoku, said a beggar was better than a thief, in African culture.

She said: “In the culture of Africa, begging is no crime. Instead of people stealing, they would rather beg. But in this 21st century, begging is no longer attractive and people would rather ask the adult to go and fend for him or herself. Hence, people use children because the African society values children. children easily attract attention and sympathy of people.

“Lagos State tried to remove the Almajiris from the road but it did not work. You cannot wake up and start punishing them either because they are not aware of what they are doing. If you keep them in a colony and you don’t provide them with basic needs or expose them to entrepreneurial skills, they would go back to the streets. But where government does the needful and anyone is caught on the street, the punitive measure is to withdraw certain privileges from the offender.

“No sane government will allow parents to use their children to beg because it is a dent on the government as well as the self-esteem of the child.”