Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of
Nigeria! Immediately after the exit of
the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, as if that was the signal
beggars were waiting for, the streets of Abuja has been literally taken over by
beggars!
In every nook and cranny they are seen in
wheelchairs, walking sticks – almost anything to aid their movement.
More worrisome now is the fact that they appeared
to be buoyed by a recent statement credited to the Presidency that 5,000
stipends would be handed over to each beggar as part of election promises!
If this is true, then residents of the Federal
Capital should brace up for harder times as the ranks of beggars are expected
to increase radically.
Political watchers however fear this development,
“This is a backward move”, says Yohanna Joshua a resident in Lugbe. “Beggars are not to be encouraged; they are
supposed to be shipped and kept somewhere as El-Rufai did during his time as
FCT Minister”, claims Yohanna.
Another resident Ibrahim Dogoshe lamented the
menace of these policy flip-flop and wondered if this was part of the spirit of
change Nigerians expected. “This is 2015
and Abuja should be aiming to compete with mega cities such as Dubai, Doha and
Ridyah instead of encouraging beggars to flood the streets”, Ibrahim stressed.
When Abuja Morning Star visited the FCDA offices
mum was the word. No official was
prepared to volunteer any information.
But investigations show that President Muhammadu
Buhari is actually undecided what to do with these “beggars’, talakawas”,
majority whom unanimously voted for him during the March 28 General
Elections. It is believed that some
powerful and faceless individuals are behind what is now turning out to be a racket. “Otherwise how would they transport
themselves from one corner to the other without financial support?” queried
Abdul Mohammed in Garki.
Further investigations by our reporters showed
that poverty is pervasive and runs in their blood. Again, it was discovered that except for the
herculean effort by former President Jonathan to rail-road them into designated
Government owned schools, few, if any Northern Government have ever made
attempt to properly relocate these category of Nigerians.
“Jonathan built almajiri schools to at least give
them a sense of belonging”, said Ayuba Samson, “what value would giving them
5,000 each add to their lives”, he added.
Observers believe that since there is no authentic
statics or data to identify who and who is a beggar, this move, by President
Buhari, it is feared, will fuel massive corruption. “We are talking about change infrastructure,
social services, human resources, not how to pay beggars 5,999 monthly”, stated
Ayuba Samson. To him, this is pure
corruption.
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