Lagos - Residents of Lagos State have expressed concern over the increasing number of beggars on the streets of Lagos.
Some of the residents told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday
that begging was repulsive and should not be encouraged in any state.
A lecturer at the Lagos State University (LASU), Adedayo
Bolarinwa, said begging portrayed that a country "is poor and lacking
in human resource management''.
Bolarinwa said that visitors arriving in Nigeria could have a
negative impression of the country on sighting an assembly of beggars on
the roads.
"It paints a picture of poverty and poor economy and this must be avoided,'' he said.
Also, Edwin Nebeolisa, an official of an NGO, Africa in Democracy
and Good Governance (ADG), told NAN that a state such as Lagos could not
afford to be branded a ‘’beggars' state’’.
He said there was need to clear beggars from the streets of the state
as their presence portrayed an ugly picture of the state and nation at
large.
"In my opinion, the presence of beggars almost everywhere on the
streets and some major roads of Lagos state, calls for serious redress.
"If we must meet the standard of other developed nations of the
world, then we must begin with checking little things which could
readily downplay the nation's reputation," Nebolisa said.
He said some visitors to Nigeria would ordinarily get irritated on seeing so many beggars lined up on the roads of Lagos.
According to him, there is the need to put a stop to the activities
of these beggars, since majority of them were physically fit, but only
took to begging as a result of laziness.
A trader, Femi Oluwaseun, decried the use of infants to beg by some women, describing it as child abuse.
He called on the state government to create a rehabilitation centre where these beggars could be kept.
- NAN