Officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration have raised alarm over a disturbing trend where families allegedly rent out their children to street beggars operating across Abuja.
The Acting Director of Social Welfare in the FCT Social Development Secretariat, Gloria Onwuka, who revealed this after a recent enforcement exercise by Operation Sweep Abuja Clean, lamented that the practice was turning begging into a booming business in the FCT.
Recall that the Operation Sweep Abuja Clean campaign was launched last week at the directive of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, to rid the streets of beggars, scavengers, and other public nuisances.
Onwuka, who spoke to journalists at the FCTA Rehabilitation Centre in Bwari, said a total of 210 have so far been picked up from various hotspots across Abuja and taken to the centre.
According to her, most of the arrested children were trafficked into the city from far-flung northern states, often hidden in trucks ferrying goods into Abuja.
“People have turned begging into a business. They even go to the extent of hiring children from other states, even children that are not theirs. They drop them on the streets to beg.
“Some children told us they jumped into Dangote trailers from as far as Katsina to come to Abuja. Tell me how a child of seven years, eight years, will leave his house all the way from Kano or Katsina and start coming to Abuja if not being aided by some people?” she asked.
Onwuka said the breakdown of those apprehended so far includes 80 men, 58 women, and 72 children, all arrested for street begging across key districts including Wuse, Garki, and Asokoro.
She also described how some women use children that are not biologically theirs to stage elaborate begging schemes, while others feign illnesses to draw public sympathy.
“We caught one woman who said she had breast cancer. When the bandage was removed, there was no single wound,” she said.
Onwuka further explained that the arrested individuals are currently being profiled at the Bwari Vocational and Rehabilitation Centre and will be repatriated to their home states in the coming days. “They’re properly fed and secured here. But very soon, they’ll be returned to where they came from.”
She added that FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had ordered a full-scale cleanup of the capital, directing the Social Development Secretariat and security agencies to tackle both street begging and organised criminal activities head-on.
“This operation will continue until we take back the streets,” she said. “The minister is determined to rid Abuja of every form of threat from beggars to ‘one chance’ gangs.”
On the security front, Director of FCT Security Services, Adamu Gwary, said Operation Sweep Abuja Clean was not just about aesthetics or sanitation but a broader push to restore order and safety in the nation’s capital.
“This is about public safety. We’ve had enough of residents living in fear due to criminal activities tied to some of these street elements,” Gwary said.
One of the persons arrested, Ojo Bimbo, accused a man named Lucky of exploiting her and her child.
The mother of two from Kogi State maintained her innocence, “Help me ask Lucky. Why will he use me and my children to beg and then call me a beggar? Why is he using my child to beg in someone else’s compound?” she asked.
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