Opinion
The Blight Of Street Begging
The population of beggars in our streets is growing
rapidly. That street begging is a potential threat to our society is obvious. There is moral justification for the British in making begging a criminal offence –the state provides for the well being of its citizens, especially the very vulnerable ones. The relatively few beggars in the British Society could be alcoholics or drug addicts, perpetually begging or stealing in order to be able to satisfy their anti-social habits.
On the contrary, our government, both at the state and federal levels lack the moral justification to legislate against begging in the streets. This is because there are genuinely very many vulnerable Nigerians who are suffering from acute disabilities or extreme poverty and have been left to fend for themselves.
Begging in Nigeria was once associated with poor parents who give birth to twins. They begged to be able to sustain their twins and their families at large.
Street begging in our society today is like cancer in the body. It is either we sacrifice the attacked part and save the body or we allow it to invade and destroy the entire body. Street begging thrives because we, the government and the people, have allowed it. It is either we summon enough courage or will to deal with it once and for all or we let it remain a nuisance and a danger to our collective existence till the end of time.
Port Harcourt, for instance, is said to be playing host to over five thousand beggars who loiter the streets and other parts of the state. From Lagos Bus Stop to Mile 1 Market; from Craft Centre to Garrison, Rumuola junction; from Artillery to Oil Mill Market and to Eleme junction, just to mention but a few, are littered with beggars. The most recent group of beggars are the Arabs believed to have come from Chad and Niger Republic as the case may be. This notorious group of beggars that comprises mainly illegal immigrants have adopted aggression as their style of achieving their goals.
The parents of these child-beggars often sit strategically watching their children beg and harass their victims by holding on to their attires embarrassingly.
Besides the fact that the children ought not to be beggars at their tender age, they are supposed to be at school. And this ought not to be tolerated.
The dangerous aspect of the entire episode is the dangerous manner begging by these children of illegal aliens and their parents have assumed. I have heard instances where beggars used charm on their victims and hypnotise them just to get large sums of money from them.
Recently, I head about the case of a man who lost his manhood to a beggar in Port Harcourt. There are others who begin by begging, but change their style to use of force when they fail to get money from their victims. It is sad that this style of begging has continued unabated.
The question I have always asked is, why are there no ministries or government agencies saddled with the responsibility of managing beggars in the state? Not only beggars that need to be given attention, we also have mad people all over our streets when they should be at asylum. Why has no government ever thought about the welfare of this category of persons?
The high number of beggars and mad persons in our streets is an indication that the social welfare ministry, both at the state and federal levels is not functional. The ministry simply exists but does not rehabilitate anyone. Does it mean that the ministry doesn’t want to work or it is poorly funded?
Also to blame is the immigration service that has allowed all manner of aliens into the country to beg and harass Nigerians. Why will the immigration see these people in our streets but fail to deport them?
Given the danger these social miscreants pose to the society,particularly in Port Harcourt, I ask the Rivers State Government to urgently remove them from the city. We already know the danger they pose in other states of the country where large number of deaths is recorded on daily basis as a result of their activities.
In these days of insecurity, occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency, it is expected that our Interior Affairs Ministry would have taken extra precautions to ensure that only genuine immigrants are allowed into the country. Recent security reports have shown that 80% of Boko Haram bombers arrested by security agents are not Nigerians. In a country where the safety of its citizens is paramount, that report is enough to compel any responsible government to tighten its borders. Sadly in Nigeria, the reverse is the case.
Much as I advocate the ban on street begging, our government must know that it is only a dysfunctional society that can produce this kind of persons. Therefore, beggars who are without families have to br accommodated by the Social Welfare Ministry for proper rehabilitation.
While begging should be prohibited, a new approach should be adopted for alms giving. Those who genuinely seek to support vulnerable Nigerians should constitute themselves into charitable organisations which will give towards the welfare of the beggars. However, whoever gives to street beggars encourages street begging. Whenever street begging is made an offence, such persons must be punished as well.
Finally, our political leaders must channel the resources of the state towards providing for everyone. If Nigerians fight corruption and reduce waste, there will be enough to go round everybody. This will either reduce or eliminate begging in our society.
Atagawa is a student of National Open University of Nigeria.
Josephine Atagawa
The floods have done it again! No thanks to our governance systems that enables such tales of bad fate. Our national encounters with floods have become annual meets in which Nigerians have had to be vulnerable to inundating floods. Every incident becomes a combat with nature in which Nigerians have been made no match. Many unlucky Nigerians have had to endure overwhelming onslaughts from floods, some not surviving to tell the stories.
The sad event that just occurred at Mokwa in Niger State has once again reminded us that we have entered the Season 2025 Rendezvous With Floods. Yes, the flood season is here again! It also appears that by our inactions to check the floods, we have entered some unwritten agreements with same, to annually decimate the lives of hundreds of Nigerians whom conditions of life placed on the paths of menacing floods. As humans fail to be humane to their fellow, why would the floods?
Even as flood prevention and mitigation activities draw huge budgets from government purses annually, they remain as ravaging as if they were never envisaged, the result of which many lives, properties and natural resources of innocent Nigerians are sacrificed yearly.
In the current tragedy at Mokwa more than 150 lives have so far been confirmed dead. Regrettably, the figures may go further as rescue operations continue. According to reports, mayhem descended on innocent residents who were asleep in the early hours of Thursday, May 29, 2025 in the neighbourhoods of Kpege at Mokwa, when torrential downpours led to surprising surges of water. In the ensuing confusion in which buildings and market areas became submerged amidst collapsing structures, hundreds lost their lives, buildings destroyed and many displaced. Those lucky enough to have escaped alive now face the frustration of sudden displacement.
Even as floods have become one of our intractable, annual woes, the latest incident at Mokwa remains heart-bleeding, considering that no less than 200 lives were lost to flooding in the same area in 2023 and over 386,000 were displaced. Such horrendous flood disasters keep recurring as a national tragedy.
In 2022 Nigeria made world headlines when CNN and other international media carried reports of one of our worst humanitarian flood disasters during which over 500 persons perished, about 1,546 injured, and over 1.4 million persons displaced by floods. The CNN also added that about “45,249 houses were damaged, 76,168 hectares of farmlands partially destroyed while 70,566 hectares of farmlands got completely destroyed.” That year, 27 out of Nigeria’s 36 states struggled with floods while access to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was threatened.
The more salient impact which draws lesser attention from the media is the trail of terrestrial erosions that etch our environments each flooding season. With widespread areas of farmlands, residential areas and coastal communities being washed away by floods yearly, the ecology of many parts of Nigeria continues to degrade in magnitudes unimageable.
***********Regrettably no lessons appear to have been learnt from flood incidents such like occurred in 2022, otherwise we would not have been experiencing subsequent scales of recurrences.
Nor have the preventable drownings of a colossal number of lives been enough to trigger official inquiry into the activities of our national emergency management programmes, and their associated agencies.
In the face of huge expenditures recorded in yearly national budgets through the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to finance the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), it should be puzzling that no one has ever been held liable for the failures to safeguard areas prone to floods, the recurrent inability to swiftly come to the rescue of flood victims, and the consequential deaths. Even from the reported lamentations of victims, it is discernible that most often, relief materials reach victims almost a year after incidents. And that is for those lucky enough to secure reliefs. Designated places for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), may pass as mockery of the essence.
With respect to the Mokwa flood mayhem, NEMA claims it “Had prior to the incident, issued multiple early warnings regarding likely flooding in flood-prone regions like Niger State.” Probably in an attempt to shift blames to local authorities claimed further that, “Despite these efforts, the scale of the disaster revealed the limits of national-level warnings without sufficient ground-level implementation.” But as the apex disaster management agency in the country, is NEMA’s job only to raise alarms for local authorities? What hindered the deployment of its Early Warning and Preparedness mechanisms?
Being under the Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Ministry, one may wonder if NEMA is not being choked under a ministry saddled with so many social duties, moreso, a ministry notorious for its social fund embezzlement scandals. For swifter operations, NEMA should operate from a ministry dedicated to special duties, or placed under the Presidency.
This nation has had so many innocent lives devastated needlessly by floods to have provoked national compunction in saner climes. Such regrets should have inspired decisive actions that prevent, or at least mitigate future occurrences to the barest minimum.
In our usual daily hustle, life may resume as normal for many Nigerians faced by many other daily struggles, and the memories of the over 150 who died at Mokwa will soon be forgotten. But it is pertinent to remind us that it is a crime against humanity to let helpless lives perish as such.
The menace of floods as occur on our part of the globe are preventable, as they are seasonal and predictable. Given all the technologies currently at our disposal, floods should not be as overwhelming as they have become. With conscientious efforts, floods could largely be prepared against and checked, while mitigating actions ensure that lives and resources are not destroyed on the scales being experienced. From the yearly outcomes so far, it is obvious that the requisite actions against floods are not being implemented, however how NEMA tries to defend itself.
In the meantime, it should be noteworthy that the Mokwa sad record is an early occurrence for the year 2025, and coming just from the River Niger flank of the country alone, when the usually worst crises from the River Benue axis are yet to commence. Officials of NEMA and those of concerned State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) should not wait until the Republic of Cameroon embarks on the annual opening of its Lagdo Dam, and when communities downstream of the River Benue flank start wailing desperately, to take action. By then actions would be too little, and too late, and NEMA would issue another self-exoneration.
As NEMA goes nation-wide to sensitize the public on its National Disaster Preparedness and Response Campaign (NPRC) 2025, its activities should materialize in lives and resources saved against floods.
On the Side A of the 1971 rock album Santana III, Santana Band featured a piece titled “Toussaint L’Ouverture”. The intensity, liveliness, pulsating and compulsive rhythms, and soaring guitar solos of “Toussaint L’Ouverture” made it a favorite of rock aficionados on dance floors across the world in the early seventies. Unbeknownst to many, the raw energy and dynamic tempo changes of the basically instrumental piece symbolized the fury and determination of the legendary leader of a historic revolution that was not taught in schools. The revolution, which led to the first independent Black nation on earth was led by Toussaint L’Ouverture.
François-Dominique Toussaint Bréda (1743–1803) aka Toussaint L’Ouverture, was born into slavery in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). He became a key leader of the Haitian Revolution and one of the most prominent figures in the history of the fight against slavery. Freed in his 30s, L’Ouverture educated himself in Enlightenment ideas and military strategy. During the slave uprising in Saint-Domingue in 1791, his leadership capacities crystallized as he organized, negotiated, outmaneuvered and turned wild protests into disciplined and organized resistance hence he was acknowledged as a skilled and charismatic military leader.
Betrayed by Napoleon Bonaparte through subterfuge during negotiations, L’Ouverture was captured and taken to France in 1802. Though he did not live to see the liberation of his people from slavery and colonialism, his leadership laid the foundation for Haiti’s independence in 1804—the first successful slave revolt in history and the first Black republic in the modern world. These are his last words in 1803: “In overthrowing me, you have done no more than cut down the trunk of the tree of black liberty…it will spring back from the roots, for they are numerous and deep”. Last words that burned hotter than lava then; timeless words that are currently as cogent and urgent as they were more than two centuries ago. In a 2024 opinion of L’Ouverture, Phil McKraken wrote that: “Toussaint was a figure larger than life…His spirit lives on not just for Haitians but for all freedom loving people”. For McKraken, L’Ouverture is a symbol of organized resistance and emancipation from slavery, imperialism and its facades over the centuries.
*********** More than two centuries after his death, the spirit of L’Ouverture and the essence of the last words, said in the bid to emancipate his country of Blacks from French slavery, still resonates in the contemporary affairs of Francophone Africa. This group of countries are still trapped in the documented postcolonial economic stranglehold of France, a country that has orchestrated more coups in Africa than any other through subterfuge, subversion and assassination.
It is said that in nature any species that is over hunting is sooner or later taken out because its over-hunting upsets the balance. Through the instrumentality of NATO (which, in practical terms, is acronym for Nations Aligned to Terrorize Others) and other institutions of imperialism, the West has traumatized Africa by conspiratorially and systematically destabilizing the wealthiest nations and their systems and heartlessly and predatorily over exploiting their resources since Bismark’s Berlin Butchery of Africa (BBBA) in 1885, which is euphemistically referred to as Berlin Conference.
Undoubtedly, the West (especially France) has over hunted in Africa. For instance, information has it that, hitherto, Mali earned $1bn annually from its gold mined by a French company. That amount is domiciled in French Central Bank where it serves as collateral for Mali to borrow from France; WITH INTEREST! Today, with the expulsion of France, Mali earns $10bn monthly. What an economic liberation from heartless exploitation! Similarly, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gabon etc. have liberated themselves from postcolonial economic stranglehold by France. Doubtlessly, Nature has commenced the process of taking out the over hunting predator.
Going by L’Ouverture’s metaphor, the West systemically or violently “cut down the trunk[s]” called Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Moamar Gaddafi, Thomas Sankara etc. However, from the roots that “are numerous and deep”, Assimi Goita sprang from the soil of Mali in 2020 thereby commencing the natural process of taking out the predator that L’Ouverture contended with more than two centuries ago. From the soil of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traore sprang in 2022 and, in quick succession in 2023, Abdourahamane Tchiani and Oligui Nguema sprang from Niger and Gabon, respectively. In May 2024, Mahamat Déby won the presidential election in Chad and expressed strong anti-French sentiments, a radical departure from the policy posture of his late father. Like L’Ouverture, these leaders did not strike for conquest; they fought for liberation from the stranglehold of a participant in the BBBA of 1885. Their action speaks eloquently and volubly of the disillusionment with French overreach in the continent.
In September 2023, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). Though relatively new, it is a significant geopolitical bloc that marks a dramatic shift in the political and security landscape of West Africa. With their common heritage of French colonialism and current experience of military coup, they are collectively navigating a complex transition away from France and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), toward greater self-reliance and regional solidarity. Recently, Ivory Coast has also had a change of guard and speculations are rife that Togo and Benin Republic have followed suit. This marks the end of an era for France; an era that has dire consequences for the former colonial power.
Commenting on the anti-France wild fire in Francophone Africa, social critic and blogger, Michael A.G. Iboh, speaks with optimism that “ CFA Franc, the last chain of French colonization, has been broken. Granted that the West will do everything to crush Burkina Faso but day has broken in Africa and the dawn is here not just in Ouagadougou but across Africa”.
There is palpable unease at Palis de l’Elysee; that is understandable. Frontline Pan-Africanists, Arikana Quao and Mallence Williams inform that, hitherto, France was receiving about $500 billion per annum in foreign exchange reserves from Francophone Africa based on forced false colonial debt. Former French president Jacques Chirac once stated thus: “without Africa, France will slide down in the rank of a third world power”.
In the above regard, Florida-based Nigerian social critic, Daag Josiah, holds that “Though the colonial boat has been rudely rocked and it cannot be business as usual, a relationship based on mutatis-mutandis could be structured.” Invoking the hospitality and generosity that characterize Africa, William has invited France to “come…with integrity and honor; we want to share with you our wealth and invite you to share with us”. With “strategic self interest” being the traditional mindset of imperialism, will France accept the simple conditionality of coming to the table with “integrity and honor” where the relationship departs from “master-servant” to partnership or will it insist on the status quo?
The truth remains that many roots of the hewed trunk of L’Ouverture have sprout and his spirit has reincarnated simultaneously across Francophone Africa. At last, Prof Claude Ake’s 1978 intellectual prophecy, Revolutionary Pressure in Africa, has touched down on the African soil and the torch of liberation has lit a wild fire.
Going forward, France and the West must rework relationships with Africa. This is feasible and achievable; each should come to the table with genuine desire for mutuality and reciprocity. The basic requirement is that the imperialist mindset of “might is right” and inordinate self-interest, which Greg Mills aptly attributed Africa’s poverty to, should give way for cooperation and partnership. One thing is for sure, the old order is history. It is not a coincidence that this is happening when the majestic sound of Star-Spangled Banner is speedily fading marking the beginning of the end of an empire whose light is dimming into twilight while the silhouette of the Dragon of the East is bursting out in radiant colors. Naturally, the sun of global power play is setting in the West and rising in the East
What we see across the country today can only be surmounted through a decisive Presidential agenda devoid of politics and sentiments. Alhaji Shehu Shagari, faced with similar security threats, wasted no time in restoring order.
Shagari was still in his first year in office when Islamic fundamentalists, led by Muhammadu Marwa, better known as Maitatsine, visited terror on Kano. Domiciled in the Yan Awaki area, the man who originally hailed from Cameroon, began to create an empire of terrorists.
Kano was under the control of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) while the National Party of Nigeria ( NPN) controlled the Federal Government. Shagari, a Muslim, did not want to be politically correct because Kano was involved. He placed national security above everything else.
Realising that the terrorists had overwhelmed the police, killing about 100 of them including a Commissioner who was moved from Aba, the president applied military force. It took just two days for soldiers to crush Maitatsine and his followers. At the end, 5,000 civilians died and the Army lost 35 souls.
That was in 1980. Shagari set up a Judicial Commission headed by Justice Anthony Aniagolu. Hundreds of the trouble makers were sent to jail. And it turned out that among them were fighters from Chad, Niger Republic, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Mali.
On May 16, 1981, there was a skirmish at the Nigeria – Cameroon frontier. Second Lieutenant Seyiveh Sewhenu Amosu of the Nigerian Army, leading a patrol on the Akpa Yafe River, was killed in an ambush by Cameroonian forces. Four other soldiers, Felix Bemigho, Emmanuel Kasar, Joseph Imaja and Emmanuel Akpan also died.
Shagari wasted no time in showing Cameroon the power of Nigerian forces. His Service Chiefs had tasted battle during the Civil War. Chief of Defence Staff, Gibson Jalo, was a General Officer Commanding (GOC). Army Chief, Mohammed Wushishi, was part of the First Division, Chief of Naval Staff, Akin Aduwo, commanded a warship, his Air Force counterpart, Dominic Bello, was one of the few Federals that flew jet bombers.
The world watched as Nigerian forces moved to the border for war on Cameroon, whose troops had never seen battle anywhere. Having frightened the aggressor, Shagari diplomatically halted the planned assault.
In October 1982, some of Maitatsine’s loyalists, regrouped in Bulunkutu, Maiduguri. Among them were many released from jail, like what we see with Boko Haram fighters today. They burnt mosques, churches and humans, using body parts as charm. Again, Shagari acted decisively to decimate the terrorists.
On April 18, 1983, one Idris Debby, led Chadian troops to seize 21 Nigerian fishing villages. Shagari showed his stuff, once again. As Commander – in – Chief of the Armed Forces, he chose seasoned fighters, after consulting with his Defence Team.
Muhammadu Buhari, GOC of the 3rd Amoured Division was given the task of clearing the intruders. As the first governor of Borno State, the general knew the terrain so well. His mother was Kanuri, whose people knew much about Debby and the Zaghawa.
To support Buhari, Chris Ugokwe, a seasoned warrior and Commander of the 21 Armoured Brigade, led the battle. Ugokwe commanded Biafra’s 52 Brigade during the Civil War and was the officer who led 13 Armoured vehicles, under Ibrahim Babangida in 1976, to flush Bukar Dimka out of Radio Nigeria.
Ugokwe and Buhari were friends and Nigeria Military Training College (NMTC) course 5 mates. Babangida was their junior by one Course. It was because of Biafra that Ugokwe lost seniority but he was trusted by PMB and IBB. Ugokwe and Babangida were together in Kaduna during the January 15, 1966 coup.
Ugokwe drove Debby out of Nigeria and led troops into Chad. To show the strength of his Brigade, he planned to capture Ndjamena and was going to accomplish that task when Shagari, again, turned to diplomacy. The president called on Buhari to stop his troops.
That war with Chad gave the Armed Forces so much respect. The Air Force had men like Ben Ekele and Adamu Sakaba. Ekele was so good in all his training abroad that he was nicknamed ‘Air Hooligan’. His friend, Isaac Alfa, was known as ‘Air Warrior’.
Ekele played with the MiG fighter jets, like a toy. Some admirers gave him another name, ‘Ben The MiG’. Unfortunately, the officer was executed with Sakaba, in March 1986. Both were found guilty of treason by the Charles Ndiomu Military Tribunal, for their alleged roles in the Mamman Batss plot of 1985.
Shagari pushed our best into battle. Second Lieutenant Amosu, who was killed by Cameroonians, belonged to the Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course (RC) 22. That RC later produced a Chief of Naval Staff, Dele Ezeoba, a governor, Inua Bawa, a Senator, Austin Akobundu and other prominent officers like Brigade of Guards Commander, J. O. Shoboiki, Task Force Commander, Sarkin Bello and Paul Izukanne. Another Amosu, Nunayon, became Chief of Air Staff.
President Bola Tinubu should follow Shagari’s footsteps. Nigeria is in trouble and there must be no consideration of tribe, tongue or party. Our Armed Forces can do better. We have many saboteurs in and out of power. What is paramount now is a new strategy.
The bloodletting is unprecedented. Citizens are slaughtered like chicken, daily all over the country. We call them bandits, in the North – West, killer herdsmen in the North – Central, terrorists in the North – East and Fulani herdsmen, in the entire South.
There is only one President and Commander – in – Chief. Tinubu is a strong man, cowardice is not part of his profile. He was part of the NADECO battalion that waged war on Sani Abacha. This is another war. Tinubu can and must fight like a Field Marshal.
Emeka Obasi
Obasi is an online journalist and analyst.