The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it has arrested 210 beggars as part of its “Operation Sweep Abuja,” a clampdown on vagrants, street traders, scavengers and other undesirables, which commenced on Monday.
The operation is in response to recent security concerns and a surge in criminal activities in the FCT over the past weeks.
The FCTA’s Acting Director of Social Welfare, Mrs Gloria Onwuka, announced this in a statement sent to Persecondnews on Friday signed by Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant for Public Communications and Social Media to the FCT Minister.
Onwuka said the operation was in accordance with the directive of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, and that the 210 apprehended beggars, comprising 80 men, 58 women, and 72 children, were being held at the Bwari Rehabilitation Centre.
The Director added that scavengers, ‘one chance’ syndicate members, and other apprehended criminals were in police custody, while the beggars, caught in various locations, were being profiled for evacuation back to their respective states.
Onwuka revealed that some children begging on the streets were brought from Kano, Katsina, and other states by individuals who exploit them for money, and that some women caught begging with children were not their biological mothers.
The statement reads: “Begging is now run like a business. People will go and hire people’s children from other states, put them in vehicles very early in the morning, come to Abuja and start begging.
“The families they are hiring these children from do not even know that this is what they are using their children to do. We have caught so many of them like that.
“Also, some of the beggars will even tie a bandage on their legs claiming injuries but it’s all lies. There is a woman we caught who claimed she has cancer of the breast, but when we loose the bandage, there was no single wound on her breast.”
On his part, Director, Security Services Department, FCTA, Mr Damy Gwary, said the operation had so far covered the City Centre, Kubwa, Gwarimpa, Asokoro, Garki and Wuse among other locations.
Gwary explained that the activities of the beggars, scavengers and other criminal elements have become a source of great concern to FCT residents.
Represented by Dr. Peter Olumuji, Secretary of the FCTA Command and Control Centre, the director stated that the operation aimed to rid the city of all forms of criminal elements.
He noted that beggars pose security threats and constitute a nuisance in the city, and that Minister Wike had directed the FCT Police Commissioner and other security agencies to tackle all forms of security threats across the territory.
He added that the CP would provide updates on the progress so far, adding that the operation would continue as long as security threats exist in the FCT.
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