AT about 05:17 am, I was rushing to Iyana-Ipaja to catch up with a 06:00 am bus, and to my surprise, I saw the roadside beggars at the Igando bus stop already stationed for their business.
My surprise wasn’t that they were there, as it is no news that they have now converted the median of the road to their operational base, my surprise, instead, was that they were already there so early, with their children.
As Igando-Ikotun commuters head out to their various destinations, it is a common sight to see the beggars, alongside their children, gathered to beg for alms, ranging from cash to even foodstuff.
The information available at my disposal shows that this issue has been a problem for some time, even as far back as 2017 when Punch Newspapers took a look at the issue. A worker at the LCDA, who pleaded anonymity, said that the beggars had been sent away several times but they returned.
READ MORE: BEGGARS, REFUSE HEAPS TAKEOVER IKOTUN ROUNDABOUT
Also, Alimoshotoday had in 2021 reported on the discomfort of residents and commuters over the continued stay of these beggars.
While some of the beggars are nursing mothers, others have adolescent children whom they usually force to run after passersby to solicit alms, especially during the evening traffic when they knock on car windows to beg.
Aside from the nuisance they constitute to passersby, they sometimes pollute the environment as they either allow their children to urinate on the road or even dump nylons and food packs, thereby compounding the task of sweepers working for the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).
Despite sustained efforts by the previous and current administrations to discourage and rid the state of beggars, the situation is seemingly becoming irredeemable. When their problems become unbearable, the government will go tough on the beggars, making them disappear for a while, only to resurface in even larger numbers, as soon as they notice that the heat has been relaxed.
One wonders how they arrive and disperse for business. However, observations have shown that they are well-catered for. They have big-time sponsors who bring them food in the morning and evening. It is a common practice for some people looking for spiritual breakthroughs in whatever forms to carry sacrifices of all manner of offerings to these beggars in their various locations, as a form of sacrificial offering. This is done to ward off spiritual problems the givers are experiencing.
One evening, I observed them having a dispute with a bread seller, as they appeared not only to have messed up her space but also occupied it. Whatever the case, while we wait for the State Government to take decisive action on this menace, dem go still dey hustle their hustle jejely!
