By Sarah NEGEDU
True to the recent threat by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to rid the nation’s capital of street beggars, the FCT Administration on Monday, arrested 15 beggars picked up from different parts of the territory.
The minister had last week Tuesday, issued a 5 day ultimatum to street beggars to leave the nation’s capital for constituting nuisance and security threat to the FCT.
Wike had at the flag-off of construction of access road in the Katampe District, declared war against street begging and other vices believed to fuel insecurity, noting that the act was becoming embarrassing to the seat of power.
The minister while lamenting the increasing population of beggars in Abuja, ordered law enforcement agents to begin apprehending them from Monday.
Accordingly, a combined task force of Police, Military, DSS, NSCDC, and other paramilitary agencies were deployed in four groups to different locations to fish out beggars constituting nuisance in the FCT.
The team also arrested 19 scavengers and miscreants herbanating under bridges and tunnels.
FCT Police Commissioner, Olatunji Disu who termed the operation as “a national assignment”, charged the security operatives involved in the operation to be professional, but uncompromising in carrying out the ministerial orders.
Disu noted that the operations would last for two weeks, after which the strategies would be reevaluated.
According to him, “this operation will last for the first two weeks. We will come back and assess our achievements, then we will go back if there is a need for us to continue it”.
Speaking on the first day of the operations, the Director, FCTA Security Services Department, Adamu Gwari, said the operations would be conducted day and night in order to achieve the desired results.
The Director who was represented by the Secretary, FCT Command and Control, Peter Olumuji, explained that the first day operations had four groups who were “sectorized into 4 sectors. We have the metro, which is the city centre. We have the airport road that covers the entire airport road from city gates up to Bill Clinton road. We also have the Kubwa axis that covers the Kubwa, Gwarimpa up to Dei Dei. And we have the last group that covers Asokoro, AYA, Nyanya, Karu, Jikwoyi. All these will carry out the operation simultaneously.”
He disclosed that while no beggar was arrested in the city centre, because they have all gone into hiding, he however, said that the operations successfully arrested 15 beggars and 19 scavengers from different locations.
“We realized that most of them are actually heard the voice of the minister. Notwithstanding, we have one or two that are still trying to test the water and we have been able to apprehend them. We also have 15 beggars and 19 scavengers that we have picked up in various sectors and we are still counting”, he added.
Also speaking, the Head of Enforcement, Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEBP, Kaka Bello, said the operations is not just about beggars, but sanitizing the city of every nuisance.
Bello noted that roadside traders and all technicians who operate at all illegal places would be touched and evacuated during this Ministerial Operations in Abuja.
On what becomes the fate of the arrested beggars, the Director Social Welfare, FCTA, Dr. Sani Rabe, said they would be taken to government’s rehabilitation center located at Kuchikon, Bwari Area council, where they would be properly profiled.
According to him, those who are trainable would be given the opportunity to learn some skills for personal empowerment, while those who are not willing to acquire skills would be repatriated to their states of origin.
