The fire at Tekunle Rehabilitation Centre, Ita-Oko Island. Please ignore the silly bigotry on the thread.

https://www.nairaland.com/400138/area-boys-lagos-ibadan-action

Abdul Adam56: Naija i tire wuna.See lawan faruoq nd yusuf kabiru why not sent them 2 kirikiri,you jail a beggars to kirikiri?Corrupt nation.

have u heard of the proverb 'ibi Pelebe lati n mu oole (moin moin ) je. start from the lower levels and proceed to d upper.

Some of the skills acquisition centres:

Epe Skill Acquisition Centre
Eredo Village, Adjacent to Eredo Local Council Development Office,

Epe, Ijebu Ode Road, Eredo Epe.               

Tel: 08056111965

Epe Skill Acquisition Centre
Igbo - Oye Village, off Epe- Ijebu-Ode Road.                                                

Tel: 08033538429                               

Ikorodu I Skill Acquisition Centre

45, Oriwu Road, Ita - Elewa, Ikorodu.    

Tel: 08023417779                               

Kosofe Skill Acquisition Centre                      

9, Folashade Ajayi Street, off                

Adebayo Mokuolu Street, Anthony Village.                                              

Tel: 08034721168

Lagos Island Skill Acquisition Centre            

Oja Oba Model Market Complex,           

Adeniji Adele Road, Lagos Island.         

Tel: 08023375408                               

Surulere Skill Acquisition Centre

Iyun Road, Beside Police Station,          

off Western Avenue, Hogan Bassey, Surulere.                                    

Tel: 01-8709118                                 

Ejigbo Skill Acquisition Centre

Oshodi Isolo                     

LASTMA Compound, Ejigbo Road, Ejigbo.                                              
Tel: 08023602558                                

Mushin Skill Acquisition Centre

Olawoyin Street,
Off Layi Oyekanmi Palm Avenue,
Mush

Millennium School Compound,         

Karimu Laka Street,                        

Tel: 08023213126                   

Amuwo-Odofin Skill Acquisition Centre

Council Development Area              

Oriade,

Ijegu

Tel: 08033486587

Shibiri Skill Acquisition Centre

Shibiri - Ekunpa Road,

Shibiri,
Ojo     

Tel: 08062476097

Badagry Skill Acquisition Centre

Marina Road, Beside Divisional Libarary,

Badagry                          

Tel: 08023045263       

Egan Skill Acquisition Centre

Egan Road, Igando Market Bus                 

Stop, off LASU Expressway.             

Tel: 08023139747/07025292805      

IBA Skill Acquisition Centre

Iba LCDA Compound,

Iba.

Tel: 08023964301                             

Ikor

Aga, Ikorodu.
Tel: 08023417779

Ibeju Lekki Skill Acquisition Centre

Orimedu Town,

Off Eleko Beach,

Ibeju Lekki

Women Development Centre

Oba-Akinjobi Road,

Pen Cinema Agege,

Isheri Rehabilitation/Skill Acquisition Centre

Opposite Sweet Sensation,

Isheri-Olowoira,

Ojodu, Berger.

I witnessed a miracle at Adeyemo Alakija Rd, VI-Lagos some weeks ago. A blind beggar was escorted to my vehicle window to beg for alms. Unknown to the begging crew, there was a Lagos state task force vehicle by the other side of the road preying on them. On sighting the task force, the blind man regained sight and ran with the speed of a cheetah. That was the fight non-religious miracle i witnessed in 2013. Praise be to God.

Whilst some people are acting like political jobbers and saluting Fashola for 'cleansing Lagos' by jailing beggers,.. they fail to realise this whole issue arose because of the state's failure to provide social security. Shameless idiots in government!

Billyonaire: I witnessed a miracle at Adeyemo Alakija Rd, VI-Lagos some weeks ago. A blind beggar was escorted to my vehicle window to beg for alms. Unknown to the begging crew, there was a Lagos state task force vehicle by the other side of the road preying on them. On sighting the task force, the blind man regained sight and ran with the speed of a cheetah. That was the fight non-religious miracle i witnessed in 2013. Praise be to God.

The massive debate about repatriation.

https://www.nairaland.com/313573/lagos-deports-160-northern-beggers

https://www.nairaland.com/1058435/lagos-deports-anambra-refugees


https://www.nairaland.com/996765/lagos-deported-foreign-beggars

Beggers cause nuisance jare.


They should go and steal from the treasury or better still be SWAT ARMED ROBBERS. That way they will likely not get any jail term

What is rong with nigeria the litle ocupation wey aboki get na him pain some people for body make una open mouth tell us to comut for nigeria becouse even for my national I .D card na beger for my international passport na beger even when i travel go saudi arabia na so so beging i take get money we i take de sponsor my people and you all know say beging na our culture.

When are they going to prosecute the beggar barons? And are they going to prosecute or rehabilitate those who believe that they must give to beggars? I do believe that something should be done to reduce people from taking up begging as a career but jailing and fining them is too much.We have to be careful of how any government treat the poor...after them they would be coming for you.

Billyonaire: I witnessed a miracle at Adeyemo Alakija Rd, VI-Lagos some weeks ago. A blind beggar was escorted to my vehicle window to beg for alms. Unknown to the begging crew, there was a Lagos state task force vehicle by the other side of the road preying on them. On sighting the task force, the blind man regained sight and ran with the speed of a cheetah. That was the fight non-religious miracle i witnessed in 2013. Praise be to God.

lmao.
But seroiusly, these beggars are becoming something else in Lagos.You see able-bodied men and women begging for alms on the streets and at motor parks. In fact, there is a particular man without any disability at Ketu who comes to the motor pack everyday to beg. Everytime I see him, he tells me the same story of his hungry children. At a point, I got tired of the same old story and stopped pitying and giving him money. There is dignity in labour. Let the beggars go and work too. If we all go to the streets to beg, who will do the giving? I support the LASG on this.

[size=22pt]crazy country!

big criminals who stole trillions of Naira, like Obasanjo and IBB are walking around freely.

Yet we imprison people for being poor

would we rather the beggars turn to crime to feed themselves?

I respect Fashola, but I regret that he failed on this issue[/size]

GenBuhari: [size=22pt]crazy country!

big criminals who stole trillions of Naira, like Obasanjo and IBB are walking around freely.

Yet we imprison people for being poor

would we rather the beggars turn to crime to feed themselves?

I respect Fashola, but I regret that he failed on this issue[/size]

[size=18pt]It's unbelievable the way people think
They should go a step further and kill the beggars and destitute
That is the permanent solution
If not they will eventually be released from Jail and back to begging
Fashola should gather them and kill them off,go to poor neighborhoods and gas them all to prevent poverty and possible begging.[/size]

GenBuhari: [size=22pt]crazy country!

big criminals who stole trillions of Naira, like Obasanjo and IBB are walking around freely.

Yet we imprison people for being poor

would we rather the beggars turn to crime to feed themselves?

I respect Fashola, but I regret that he failed on this issue[/size]

I whole heartedly agree with you. The beggers would make more money if they had weapons to force you to hand over your belongings. The real political thieves are walking the streets as govs and ex-generals and you pick on the lowest in the society to punish. I think Fashola has lost his way and he's now pursuing the mandate of the elites.

To enact laws banning begging on our streets and enforce them in line with our Lagos MegaCity project seems really fantastic.
If those humbled to the extent of begging cannot actually get some help, pray they dont try achieving same through rather violent/forceful or more dangerous means like pure armed robbery or even worse.

Govt should thread with caution on these issues.
Wonder what it'd look like if it was 30 typical Lagos troublesome agberos/areaboys that were sent to jail for extorting/robbing, not even begging instead?

Billyonaire: I witnessed a miracle at Adeyemo Alakija Rd, VI-Lagos some weeks ago. A blind beggar was escorted to my vehicle window to beg for alms. Unknown to the begging crew, there was a Lagos state task force vehicle by the other side of the road preying on them. On sighting the task force, the blind man regained sight and ran with the speed of a cheetah. That was the fight non-religious miracle i witnessed in 2013. Praise be to God.

Well, Haleluya. But govt should still thread with caution 'cause I know of a miracle too where someone who could only offer a beggar N20 suddenly produced N200,000 when threatened by armed robbers @same traffic spot.

In as much as no right thinking govt
condones alms begging, Is sending poor
beggers to prison the right way to solve the
problem? Why do Lagos state govt detest
the poor so much like this? How many
agberos/ area boys who are the real
menace to our societal welbeing have they
sent to prison? Rather, they are engaged to
fight their political battles and encouraged
to harass and rob other law abiding citizens
of the country. If not for sheer hypocricy,
why should a sane person hail this anomaly
and, at the same time condemn the Fct
minister who have chosen to rehabilitate
these poor beggers/ LovePeddlers?Rather
than send them to prison for the failure of
leadership, why can the Lagos state govt rehabilitate or betterstill, provide them with jobs. Being poor is not a crime rather failed leadership should be. I rest my case.

Sigh! I'm going to have to post it on this thread. Anyway, it contains much of the info.

naptu2: There's something missing in the article above & that's the voice of the people that were returned (note: returned, not deported). It also seems that people do not know the details of the Lagos State policy. Nobody is deported (that would be unconstitutional), rather, people are returned (which is constitutional and within the laws of Lagos State).

I'll be back with a description of the process that leads to someone being returned.

naptu2: I'm going to recount from memory because I'm on the move at the moment, but I'll try to get articles, etc when I get to a place of rest. The sources for my memory are newspaper articles, documentaries of Lagos Television, news reports and even nairaland.

[size=14pt]The Process[/size]

1)The environmental laws of Lagos State (laws against street trading, begging, etc) have been in place at least since the 1970s (probably earlier). They've been reviewed quite a number of times (Akhigbe, Rasaki, Tinubu).

2) The process was fully established by the Tinubu Administration.

3) Beggars, street traders, destitutes, area boys, psychotics, etc are arrested by the Task Force on Environmental Offences.

4) They are given a choice: (a) go to prison (b) go to rehabilitation centre (c) return to your state of origin.

A) The law stipulates punishment for those who commit these offences. They include prison term, fine, forfeiture of goods.

B) Rehabilitation centres were set up (the most famous/infamous was at Ita-Oko Island). At the centres the inmates are sorted. They are tested for drugs. Those who are drug addicts are detoxified. Those who have mental illnesses are sent to the asylum. The inmates (apart from the lunatics) are then taught skills (skills acquisition centre) so that they'll be able to earn a living. When they complete the course, they are given a loan with which they will start a business and made to sign an undertaking that they will not return to the streets.

C) Return: Those who choose to return are transported to their state of origin. The state government is usually informed ahead of time (although I know of 3 instances in which their state governments claimed that they were not informed) so that they can make arrangements to cater for the people. Most of the people who have chosen to return are from the northern part of the country (note: they chose to return).

[size=14pt]Press Releases



Feb 1, 2005 - LASG Completes N110 Million Ita-Oko Rehabilitation Centre[/size]

As part of efforts to offer comprehensive rehabilitation for social miscreants and youths in the state, the Lagos State Government has completed works on the Rehabilitation and Skills Acquisition Centre located at Tekunle Island (Ita Oko) near Ise along the Lekki Peninsula.


The 4200 square metre centre, has facilities for training residents in fabrication, carpentry weaving, an agriculture component (involving snailry, poultry and fish production), detoxification centre, clinic, and residence for 200 along with a staff quarter and helipad.


Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who along with his cabinet visited the centre yesterday noted that by the second quarter of the year it would have become operational once the new tools had been fully installed.


He said the pilot phase of the rehabilitation programme will exclude females and will be based on offering the youths a n opportunity for change.


Sounding a note of warning that government's gesture if shunned by "area boys" will lead to dire consequences, Asiwaju Tinubu declared "anyone who refuses this good gesture and our goodwill to offer him/her a new life must be ready to leave Lagos".


According to him, the six months period of residence will not only lead to a complete rehabilitation but also lead to the internationally recognized trade test certificate.


The Governor also said the administration had envisioned a two pronged plan for rehabilitation after graduation either to become self-employed with a financial bank or employable.


He further said his administration plans to have other centres at appropriate areas in the state adding that government will continue to dialogue with miscreants and offer them the goodwill to change.


In a report presented by the Commissioner for Works, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola said about N110 million had been expended by the government in both phases of the rehabilitation of the centre.


According to him, the centre had been established as a slave post but was rehabilitated as a detention camp by the military government in 1985 with such facilities as 12 wooden dormitories, dwarf walls, steel poles and sand screeded floor.


While also stating that the project will be fully delivered by mid-March, Aregbesola urged that the necessary deployments by the Ministry of Youths, Sports and Social Development should be concluded.


Earlier while conducting the Executive Council round the agriculture component Dr. Jide Basorun, Director of Agric. Services disclosed that the facilities have capacity to sustain the centre through the production offish, poultry products and snailry.


According to him with a 1000 layer bird poultry, 2000 fish capacity aquaculture and 1000 capacity snailry, the centre can not only expand but has the yield to make the centre self sustaining.

naptu2: I didn't post the link to the source of that article, but I'll tell you the source. It is taken from Bola Tinubu's website.

naptu2: Now, for a bit of balance, a more critical article. Written by Reuben Abati, the article provides a lot more information (including figures of people returned, etc)

naptu2: Before we go on, why is there so much emphasis on "Fashola"? These laws were inherited from previous administrations. The Tinubu administration also returned destitutes, etc and this action is being taken by the Lagos State Government (Ministry of Social Welfare).

[size=14pt]The beggars' opera in Lagos[/size]

⁠0 Comments

IT is difficult to believe the statement allegedly made by the Special Adviser on Youth, Sports and Social Development, Dolapo Badru, to the effect that there is a law in Lagos state which makes the giving of alms to beggars anywhere in the state, an offence punishable by two years imprisonment without an option of fine.

He said: "Lagos state frowns on giving alms to beggars. It is punishable under the law and you can get up to two years imprisonment for giving money to beggars. We have places where such money can be put to good use. The government is committed to best practices in social care." The places under reference we are told are "churches, mosques, registered orphanages, motherless babies homes or social welfare institutions." The law and the determination to enforce it, is obviously an expression of government's frustration with the growing population of beggars in Lagos.

In the past few years, successive administrations in the state have adopted a number of measures to check the menace of beggars including the establishment of rehabilitation and vocational centres (to provide shelter and skills acquisition opportunities for the destitute), the deportation of beggars from other states of Nigeria to their states of origin, and the demonisation of begging as a way of life. But none of these measures has worked. Lagos is perhaps the only state and city in Nigeria whose population increases on a daily basis in an exponential manner. There is hardly any Nigerian that does not have a relation, close or distant in Lagos, and there is arguably no community in Nigeria that does not have some of its people in parts of Lagos including beggars!

Beggars flock to the city every day, and like others, they have no intention of leaving. Even when they are arrested by the state authorities and shipped back to their states of origin, they still manage to return. Lagos in the popular imagination is the Nigerian city where anyone and everyone can make a quick buck. Since 2007, the Fashola administration has embarked on a robust urban renewal programme. Lagos is now a much cleaner city, with its parks and gardens and with tax payers' money being put to work in many ways. The position of the Lagos state government it seems is that beggars constitute a nuisance, many of them are part-time criminals, and if they would not relocate to vocational centres, they might as well face the wrath of the state government. Having failed to convince or intimidate them, however, the state authorities are now warning all persons to desist from giving them alms. I really do not see how the Lagos state government can win that battle. In the past year, the state reportedly "deported" over 3, 000 beggars from Lagos. NEXT Newspaper reports that out of these, Sokoto State had the highest number of 196 beggars, Oyo State (83), Kano (75), Osun (67), Ekiti (21), Ondo (7), and from other countries- Niger (12), Chad (2) and Cote d'Ivoire (1). The state government should redirect its energies to more purposeful engagements.

There are too many contradictions in its chosen path. One, it makes no sense to "deport" a Nigerian from any part of Nigeria to another, whether that person is destitute, able or not. The Constitution guarantees the freedom of movement, and that right extends to beggars. Yes, beggars wander from one location to another, transporting their nuisance across the city, but wandering is not an offence. The law prescribing a two-year jail term for alms-givers, if indeed it exists, is ludicrous. In a country where those who burn down houses, kill in the name of religion, rape women, kidnap children, and sabotage the state are walking free, in a society where those who loot the treasury collect national honours and chieftaincy titles, it is those who give alms to the poor that we seek to send to jail for two years without an option of fine? That law will be difficult to enforce. How do you identify a beggar? Do beggars wear uniforms, or do they carry identification badges? The Lagos state authorities should avoid the kind of human rights crisis that occurred when a directive was issued that indecently dressed women should be arrested: many housewives, accused of exposing too much flesh ended up in police cells, resulting in public outrage. With regard to beggars and the destitute, the enforcement agents could end up arresting and molesting physically challenged persons who are already badly treated by the Nigerian state, and that will be most unfair, for it is not every physically challenged person that is a beggar.

And can a man be punished for spending his hard-earned money the way he likes? I earnestly await the day when anyone in Lagos will be sent to jail for giving alms to beggars! To give teeth to the law could cause a social uproar for it runs contrary to the people's religious and cultural beliefs. The Lagos state Government could be accused of an assault on the people's faith and belief systems. The two major religions Christianity and Islam encourage their adherents to give alms, to help the poor and the needy in society. This is a sacred obligation in both religions, and that is why the most popular haunts for beggars are places of religious worship. So established is the culture of begging, that in Lagos, there are at least two major beggars' colonies: one in Ebute Meta/Oyingbo, the other in Agege.

But the bigger issue is how the explosion in the population of beggars in Lagos and elsewhere in the country, is a function of the economic dispossession in the land and the high rate of unemployment. In Nigeria, beggary has become a way of life. It is one of the easiest occupations in the land. In part because of the religious belief that beggars should be assisted, it has become one of such occupations where investment is low and return is high. Often on Lagos streets and elsewhere you are likely to run into able-bodied men and women, neatly dressed, soliciting for alms as the traffic crawls. Then you have the so-called "corporate beggars": he or she tells you he just lost his purse, his English is impeccable, he is a University or college graduate, he is so persuasive, he wants you to assist him with "a widow's mite" and he asks God to bless you abundantly. He may even entertain you with an informed commentary on the state of the nation, with stinging criticisms of the Nigerian dilemma.

Out of pity, you'd be tempted to part with some money. A few days later, you may run into the same fellow again. He knows you. This time, he would change the story and even struggle to give you a copy of his resume: if you could help him get a job. Confused, you give him some money just to get him off your back. Or is it the woman with twins or a baby, her flattened breasts hanging loose, bearing all the worldly scars of deprivation and the wickedness of men, running after your car and begging you to help her child or the "ibejis" – you give her money and go to jail for two years? Or it could be the physically challenged, blind like a bat, lame like a possum, assisted by a younger man, who should be in school, the two of them joined together by a long stick, navigating crazy Lagos traffic, and there you are in your air-conditioned car, wondering why this world is so unfair to some people, and then you take a N50 note, moved by the entertaining prayers being showered on you and your future descendants, and you go to jail for that, for being human?

The Lagos State government should leave the beggars alone. Lunatics are also being chased off the streets. Why are they on the streets in the first place? This is the question to ask. When beggars are taken to vocational centres, they run away because it is more profitable to be on the streets. They have no faith in the Nigerian system. They know that they could be treated as if they were prisoners. They know that government officials could turn the maintenance of the centres into a source of livelihood, and an opportunity for looting state resources. What Nigeria needs is to address the distortions within the system. Beggars may never disappear completely from our streets, but if the factories can begin to function again, if the government can check the misfortune of de-industrialisation, if those trucks which used to ferry workers to and fro in the 70s and 80s can return to our streets and the warehouses that have been turned into churches can become warehouses again, the population of beggars should reduce. Nigerians love to work. But when there are no jobs, they become desperate, and constitute themselves into colonies and families of beggars.

The Lagos State government is targeting the beggars on the streets: has anyone considered the army of beggars that exists in every extended family? If you have a job in Nigeria, that job does not provide for you and your nuclear family alone, it compulsorily takes care of beggars within the extended family who monitor your movement and the salary payment season; often they lay ambush by your door, sometimes as early as 5 am, or very late in the night, with the plan to sleep overnight: eat, disturb your peace and still collect your money. Like the beggars on the streets, these family ones are also very good at praying. By the time they finish telling you all the wonders God has decided to do in your life, you will be tempted to take a loan to help them sort out their long list of problems!

Nigeria needs a strong social security system that provides for the poor, the weak, the needy and the aged. Nigeria needs a functional healthcare insurance system that can take care of the army of the poor, who go onto the streets with distended scrotums, blood-soaked breasts, broken and rotten legs, smelly injuries, soliciting for alms and pushing their wounds in the faces of decent people. Nigerian beggars are the children of a system that has gone awry and is in need of urgent repairs. When next I see a beggar, I will give alms as a good Christian. A two-year jail term? What kind of vexatious law is that?

Reuben Abati Writes

naptu2: Now, my criticism of the article.

1) They did not interview Lagos State Government officials to get their own side of the story.

2) They did not interview the people that were "dumped" to hear their own side of the story.

3) It is clear to me that the story is designed to inflame passions (particularly with the use of the words "deport" and "refugees" ).

naptu2: By the way, this practice is not limited to Lagos State. Abuja has also returned people to their states of origin.

[size=14pt]Lagos, Abuja accused of dumping destitutes in Kaduna[/size]

September 18, 2009 | 12:02 am

By Emeka Mamah

Kaduna -  Kaduna State Government, yesterday, accused the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Niger State governments of allegedly dumping destitutes in the state.

The state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Maryam Laka Madami made this known while briefing newsmen on the rationale behind the decision of the state government to repatriate destitutes in the state to their states of origin.

The state government’s joint task force for the relocation of the destitutes in the state evacuated about 2,000 destitutes from the streets and transported them in several truckloads to their states of origin, Monday.

The destitutes were escorted by anti-riot policemen to Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kano and Jigawa states.

Madami, however, said that the Lagos State government dumped the 65 destitutes at the Kaduna end of the Abuja-Kaduna expressway adding that some of the affected destitutes were non-natives of the state.

She further accused the FCT and the Niger State government of similarly dumping beggars in the state.

According to her, it was the action of the Lagos and Niger state governments, as well as the FCT, that forced Kaduna to send away those destitutes from its territory  as the destitutes had constituted themselves into nuisance.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/09/lagos-abuja-accused-of-dumping-destitutes-in-kaduna/

naptu2:

These laws have been in existence since colonial time. Differennt administrations have adopted various strategies to combat the offences (Colonel Marwa used soldiers).

Begging = pan handling is against the law (in Lagos and most cities of the world)

Street trading is illegal (that's actually one of the first Lagos State laws that I learnt as a child).

Psychotics are meant to be in mental institutions

There are also associated offences (eg offences against the child rights act).

See environmental laws of Lagos State.

naptu2: I was about to provide some context and background on the story, when I heard something (very funny) on the BBC.

Chinese officials have devised a new method of dealing with street traders. . . They stare at them (yes, stare).

This morning, chinese law enforcement officials gathered on a certain street and stared at the illegal street traders. After a few minutes the street traders left in shame and embarrassment.

[size=14pt]Background and context [/size]

Unfortunately, the Lagos State Ministry of Justice website has not been the same since it was attacked by hackers early this year. I was going to repost the environmental sanitation act.


Environmental sanitation law has always been controversial in Lagos. People always complain about the state of the environment, but they complain even more when government takes steps to remedy the situation.

Back in the 1980s people often quoted the report that stated that Lagos was the dirtiest city in the world. Foreign news stations often showed pictures of Oshodi, kids hawking in traffic (dodging cars, etc), heaps of refuse on road median, etc. The people often complain about the presence of lunatics who wander the streets aimlessly.

Government response to these problems have included:

1) Colonial governments deploying health inspectors (the infamous "Wole Wole" ) to ensure that houses, markets, etc were kept clean. The people hated these health inspectors and accused them of bribery (I remember comedy sketches which depicted health inspectors stealing meat from people's pots in the guise of ensuring that the food was suitable for consumption).

2) Military governments deploying soldiers, policemen and other officials (environmental offences task force) to chase away beggars, street traders and other offenders. It was seen as a futile effort, because the traders and beggars would return to the same spot hours later. The law was amended to include the forfeiture of goods seized during such raids and imprisonment of offenders. The task force would seize the goods and burn them. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti sang

The time around 1975 and '77, police go seize expensive goods dem go start to burn burn them. Army go go market, anything cost money go burn burn dem (2x).

Why dem like to burn the things wey dey costee money? Government fit sell to people cheape cheape. Government fit dash people wey no get money.
And the burn burn na im dey sweet dem pass (burn and bribe). Na im dey sweet them pass. Oya oh, burn burn.

(Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, "Confusion Break Bone", c1980)

The people were sympathetic towards the traders and beggars and believed that the task force was cruel and inhuman. The public felt that these people were only trying to earn a living and their presence on the streets was a result of the economic decline caused by the government. It was also felt that sentencing these people to jail would mean sending them to a training centre where they would learn how to become hardened criminals (besides, the prisons were already over crowded. How many prisons would be built to accomodate the vast army of beggars and street traders?).

3) The return to civilian rule in 1999 ushered in a wave of ammendments to the law. The year 2000 amendment created the Kick Against Indiscipline Corps (basically, the environment police) and made the public-private system the only legal means of disposing waste in Lagos. It became illegal to patronise cart pushers and residents were given bin bags for free. Several markets were also closed because the market men and women engaged in street trading and improper means of disposing refuse.

The 2003 amendment presented offenders with 3 choices, rehabilitation, repatriation or jail.

This amendment was made because the government realised that the prison system was over crowded and thus it would not make sense to keep sending people who break the environmental sanitation laws to jail.

Sending them to jail also created bad publicity for the government. Offenders would often be more hardened and a greater danger to the society when they were released than when they were sent to jail. It was therefore decided that jail term would be a last resort.

Offenders would be given a second chance at life via the rehabilitation process. They could also choose to return to their home state via the repatriation process (some realised that it's better to farm in their home state, than to sleep on the streets of Lagos). Their home state government or relatives would be informed ahead of time, so that they can take steps to rehabilitate the returnees. For example, in the documentary I watched, the Kano State Government gave returnees some money to ease the process of resettlement.

Indeed, it was discovered that gangs of criminals act as agents, ferrying people from their home states to Lagos for a fee, promising them jobs when they get to Lagos and subsequently dumping them on the streets of Lagos. These gangs are particularly active in Kano State and Niger Republic. The City of Kano used to be the great economic centre of the sahel region of Africa. People came from far and wide to work in the factories in Kano City. However, chronic electricity cuts have led to the closure of many factories. Criminal gangs promise to help these people get jobs as security guards, okada riders, etc in Lagos in exchange for a fee and dump the people on the streets of Lagos.

In contrast, the rehabilitation and repatriation process would change the lives of offenders and enable them to become respectable and independent citizens.

Further amendments to the law since 2007 (Fashola administration) have made it illegal to give alms to beggars. Citizens are expected to channel such donations to registered charities, orphanages, destitute's homes, churches, mosques and other such institutions. It also provided the option of community service for people who break the law.

It should be noted that, under the law as it was before the 2003 amendment, the people who are currently being returned, would have been sent to jail.


Finally, it's a pity that the author of the article that the OP republished did such a shoddy job. He should have interviewed the returnees and then interviewed Lagos State Government officials. This would enable the public to know whether the scheme is still being implemented the way it was conceived, or whether it has derailed (the rehabilitation process suffered a setback when the Ita-Oko centre was burnt by inmates. Please ignore the bigotry in the link https://www.nairaland.com/400138/area-boys-lagos-ibadan-action ). Rather than doing this, the author wrote a sensational piece (probably to maximise sales/views) that made it seem like the returnees were forcibly deported and that they were returned simply because of their state of origin.

Destitute's home (beggar's colony), Oko-Baba, Ebute-Metta, Lagos (renovated by the Lagos State Government).



The structures were put in place by the Lagos State Government, but it is run by the beggars (they have a chairman, secretary, etc).

Area boys should also be removed from Lagos' streets.

naija police if hungry don dey catch una lik diss, una no dey look face again, as e don reach diss level lik diss, na beggers now ba

I find this very amusing and funny. Maybe because I don't stay in Lagos anyway but the AG has valid points, I know a beggar in abuja that has properties and buses on the road yet she keeps begging and I know a beggar that hosts a party every friday for his beggar colleagues. Ride on Fashola, I hope other states emulate as well.

Well, am nt a Lagosian n I dont reside in Lagos bt frm wat i'v read so far I think Fashola is highly endowed wit knwldge n i so much respect d way he executes his policies. D optns he gave 2 d beggars are fantastic. Shld it be a hard nut 2 crack for d beggars 2 go for rehabilitatn or repatriatn rather than prison?

Hmmmmmmm!

But why are Agberos never remembered in all of this.

Afam4eva: But why are Agberos never remembered in all of this.

Actually, the first set of people that were arrested were agberos (circa 2003/2004).

The NURTW then took Lagos State to court, praying the court to declare that bus stops and motor parks are public places and their members have the right to stay there and that the government's action infringed on their right to freedom of movement. The NURTW won.

I believe that the government lawyers did a bad job. The agberos shouldn't have been arrested for staying at the motor park, but for collecting illegal levies. That's what's being done now under the new traffic law.

naptu2:

Actually, the first set of people that were arrested were agberos (circa 2003/2004).

The NURTW then took Lagos State to court, praying the court to declare that bus stops and motor parks are public places and their members have the right to stay there and that the government's action infringed on their right to freedom of movement. The NURTW won.

I believe that the government lawyers did a bad job. The agberos shouldn't have been arrested for staying at the motor park, but for collecting illegal levies. That's what's being done now under the new traffic law.

If this is true then i believe it was staged. How can people who have continually extorted money from innocent Lagosians be left to operate freely yet people who just beg(not force) people to give them money are been jailed. I'm not holding a bried for the beggars as i also feel they constitute a nuissance to the society but the Agberos constitute even more. They are thieves and should be treated as such. But the ACN government from the time of Tinubu have paid lip service to getting rid of agberos. I wonder why that is the case.

Lol. The government have repeatedly tried to get rid of agbero (even governor Marwa tried using soldiers against them, but was only partially successful).

1) I've already given you the 2004/2005 example (you say it was staged, but that doesn't mean it was actually staged).

2) The City Bus experiment would have wiped out agberos in Lagos. City Bus was given a concession to run transport business in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki. Danfo and Molue buses were banned from these areas (as a prelude to banning them across the state), therefore no more agbero. The agberos damaged many City Buses and bus stop shelters because they were losing their daily bread.

3) Check this out https://www.nairaland.com/1011252/lagos-insists-ban-nurtw-comply

Since the enactment of this law, agberos have disappeared from Falomo bus stop and some other bus stops in the city. It hasn't been total or complete, but it's a start (in much the same way that the law against begging has been in force, but we still have beggars, ditto for the law banning okada).

I hope Pyguru doesn't ban me. Note that these arrests were carried out before the 2012 traffic law came into force, which is why there is a distinction between fees collected at the motor park and fees collected outside the motor park.