Tackling The Menace Of Destitution

Only few social issues in recent times have attracted as much public attention as has the problem of street based destitution in major cities and towns inNigeria. This time, the Lagos State Government’s attempt at tackling the social menace which  led to arrest and sending away of destitute persons of Igbo extraction has continued to generate an unwarranted vicious round of national discourse, some of it very divisive.

Following that report, and the avoidable ethnic sentiments injected thereto, the Lagos State Government was taken up at several levels, even when the state government took time to explain and justify its action. Unfortunately,  throughout that furore, the very compelling need, essence of and indeed challenges posed by destitution in Nigeria was lost.

While Abuja, the nation’s capital city may have succeeded, to a large extent, in addressing the issue through the removal of destitute persons from the road, major cities like Port Harcourt, Kano, Ibadan and Kaduna among others have continued to struggle with the social malaise caused by these Nigerians and their foreign cohorts, that daily question our civilization and sense of decency, as a  people.

There is indeed no gainsaying the fact that the activities of destitute people on the streets, in many urban centres in Nigeria have tended to create more problems for the country than ever thought possible. The mere fact that the malaise undermines the sanitation, beautification and development efforts of many states makes it totally unacceptable.

Infact, the way and manner destitute persons liter public places and pester travelers even at the nation’s airports call for very urgent action. Not only do they create the impression of a system that is not able to cater for the less privileged, they also pose threat to tourism, trade and investment, and indeed impugn the good image of our country.

The Tide is sad to note that a good number of such social liabilities that constitute the nuisance in our cities are largely foreigners, most of who suffer no form of disability. Indeed, it is often alleged that many of them are healthy and well fed but were being used by some well placed individuals to enlarge their fortunes. There are also cases where up to six able bodied persons go about with the photograph of one sick person in whose sympathy they claim to beg .

Mindless of the ugly sight and the contagious nature of affiction, that some of these destitute persons very often dramatise and how they deface the environment, many of them have repeatedly refused to stay in approved rehabilitation camps provided for them by government as in the case of Rivers State. To continue to find explanation for a people who would turn down free housing, feeding and medicare would be asking for too much.

This is in spite of the fact that these people prefer to take their public nuisance to absurd levels and daily contribute to the chaos and filthiness of major streets in Nigeria. They also soil public spaces with human waste, harass people and sometimes negatively impact traffic.

More worrisome is the involvement of some of them in criminality as it was recently alleged that some on wheel chairs conceal fire arms for robbers and at other times become vehicles for hard drugs sale or serve as spies for criminal gangs. Some only serve to over-dramatise how dehumanised man can get just to curry sympathy.

The Tide hopes that society would go back to the African way of taking care of family members instead of allowing such destitute persons to get to the point of begging for survival. It also serves to challenge government to come out with a plan that targets the needs of the very poor.

We think that the embarrassment caused by street-based destitution in our cities and towns should be seen in its proper perspective: a social malaise Nigeria can ill-afford. This is why we think that the Abuja success story on this subject should be replicated in all the state capitals of the federation, if for nothing else, to make our cities count among modern places where people across the world can visit.

Finally, we think that states should be free to enforce whatever level of serenity they wish to attain and if they must relocate destitute persons on the streets to achieve that, they offend no law. Fact is, such enforcement is needed to ensure public health, safety and human dignity.