In a move aimed at curbing street begging in Lagos State, authorities have arrested 911 individuals, according to Vanguard News. However, the underlying reality is more complex. As the city cracks down on street beggars, poverty, disability, homelessness, migration, and unemployment continue to push people into the streets.
The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Taskforce) has been at the forefront of this crackdown, with a spokesperson stating, ‘The Lagos State government will not allow the city to be turned into a begging hub.’
Yet, the issue is not as simple as a few hundred arrests. The root causes of street begging persist, and the city’s streets continue to call.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 33.3% in Q2 2021. This high unemployment rate, coupled with a lack of affordable housing, has forced many Nigerians to resort to street begging as a means of survival.
The Lagos State government has been working to address these issues, with initiatives such as the Lagos Employment Trust Fund (LETF) and the Lagos Affordable Housing Initiative (LAHI) aimed at creating jobs and affordable housing respectively. However, these initiatives may not be enough to fully address the issue of street begging.
The Lagos State government’s crackdown on street begging is a step in the right direction, but it is clear that more needs to be done to address the root causes of street begging. Until poverty, unemployment, and homelessness are adequately addressed, the streets of Lagos will continue to call.
By
