Social workers in Osun
have arrested about 17
beggars in the last one
week in an exercise to get
them off the streets, a
government official, Mr. Biyi Odunlade, said in
Osogbo on Thursday.

Odunlade, who is the
Special Adviser to the
governor on Youths,
Sports and Special Needs,
told the News Agency of
Nigeria that the move was necessary because of the
increasing number of
beggars in Osogbo.

NAN reported that the
beggars comprised the
destitute, the mentally ill,
jobless youths, the elderly,
women and miscreants. Odunlade, who expressed
dissatisfaction with the
ugly development, said the
state government had
resolved to rid the streets
of beggars by rehabilitating and
resettling them.

He said government could
not just chase off the
people from the streets
without providing
alternative means of
livelihood, hence the need to tread softly.

He said, “We are not in a
hurry to carry out this
exercise because of the
need to put adequate
measures in place such as
where we can put them till they relocate to join their
families. “This is why we have
started to prepare
temporary rehabilitation
centres known as traffic
camps. We now have one in
Ilobu where those arrested are kept and fed.”