BERGERS
One
hundred and twenty beggars and destitute have been convicted just as
1,708 of them were sent packing from Lagos State to their various states
and countries by the government.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth
and Social Development, Dr. Dolapo Badru, said this on Thursday during a
press conference in Ikeja.
Reacting to the civil society
organisations’s condemnation of the government’s clampdown on beggars,
he said the present administration respected the rights of persons
living with disabilities, adding that government would, however, not
bend the law when such groups of persons fall foul of the law.
He said, “Nearly everyday when my men go
on enforcement, this same set of people draw daggers and knives on my
staff; they stab and bite them to evade arrest because they broke the
law and when such a person is taken to court to be convicted, a person
sits down in his air-conditioned office raining abuses on us for doing
what is right.”
He noted that some of those convicted
posed as beggars in the traffic to rob unsuspecting motorists. He vowed
that government would not stop its clampdown on them until the trend was
nipped in the bud.
He said the 1,708 beggars and destitute
ejected from the state were either sent back to their states of origin,
while foreigners among them were repatriated.
He said the rehabilitation office dealt
with the issues of begging and destitution in the state and that in line
with the government’s policy of ridding the streets of such persons,
the office had consistently embarked on an aggressive raid of beggars,
mentally challenged and the destitute from the streets, highways and
bridges of Lagos.
Badru stated that the mode of getting
this category of persons into the rehabilitation centres was by
referrals from members of the public and rescue operations carried out
by the Office of Youth and Social Development.
He said, “In the last one year, a total
number of 3,114 beggars, destitute persons and mentally challenged were
rescued in day and night operations.
“No fewer than 2,695 were taken to the
Rehabilitation and Training Centre, Owutu, Ikorodu, where government has
provided facilities to help in turning their lives around.
“Forty-eight children and toddlers were
transferred to the Child Protection Unit; another 48 street children,
cleaning windscreens at intersections, were rescued and transferred to
the Special Correctional Centre for Boys, Oregun; eight were transferred
to the Child Transit Home, Idi Araba, while 315 Persons (203 male and
54 female) suspected to be criminals were handed over to the task force
for prosecution.”
PUNCH
No comments:
Post a Comment