Anambra clamps down on street beggars, arrests 16

The Anambra State Government has begun a clampdown on syndicates using children to beg for alms in Awka, the state capital and environs.

During a Tuesday night raid carried out by operatives of the Awka Capital Development Authority, at the Aroma Junction in Awka and environs, no fewer than 16 child beggars, including adults were arrested.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ACTDA, Ossy Onuko, said the operation was planned in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs as a way to take children off the streets.

The operation caused panic in the area as some of the street kids fled on sighting the enforcement team while some resisted arrest, but were, however, overpowered and bundled into waiting vehicles and taken away.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, said the operation would continue in all parts of Awka, to ensure that the town was rid of children being used by syndicates to beg for alms.

Obinabo expressed deep concern that school-age children were being denied their right to education and exploited as beggars and petty thieves by unscrupulous individuals.

She said the 16 children picked up during the raid had been handed over to the state’s Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra Brigade for onward tracing of their parents and guardians.

She said, “This is happening despite Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s provision of free basic education in the state.

“This development has become worrisome for us as a government. It is also of great concern to us that most of these children are not from Anambra State.

“We have therefore decided that this will no longer continue. For these children we picked up, we are going to trace their parents and find out why they are being used for begging.

“It is also a warning to parents to endeavour to give birth to only the number of children they can take care of, to avoid deploying them for these nefarious activities.”

On his part, Onuko explained that the street beggars and other miscreants had repeatedly been warned, both through conventional and social media channels, to vacate the city, but they failed to comply.

He said, “The Anambra State Government is determined to identify and prosecute the parents, guardians, and syndicates behind the exploitation of these children.

“The raid is part of an ongoing effort to rid the area, which is a key governmental zone, as well as other parts of the Awka Capital Territory, of beggars and other miscreants.

“We cannot be talking of creating a liveable and prosperous homeland when we have all these people littering the place.

“If we fail to catch these children now, they may grow up to become a menace to their parents using them for this venture and society at large. That is why we are acting fast.”