Abuja, April 2, 2023 The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has repatriated 217 destitute and street beggars from Abuja.
Alhaji Sani Amar-Rabe, the Director, Social Welfare Services, Social Development of the FCTA, confirmed this to journalists at the weekend.
He said that the repatriation was in compliance with the order by the FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Aliyu and the Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Mr Olusade Adesola, who instructed the department of social welfare services to rid the city of human and environmental nuisance.
Amar-Rabe said that it was the responsibility of the FCTA to repatriate the destitute to their various states.
”We are here in respect of repatriation of the apprehended destitute, street baggers, street boys and vagabonds who were profiled, their health challenges were equally attended to and they show no interest in learning vocational skills.
”They only show interest to be out to be attended to what they consider to be a liberty sort of and to continue doing their destitution.
“But those who have good mindset, embrace skills acquisition for empowerment. So, that is the purpose of our coming to this centre today.
”Today we don’t have many; they are just 217 beggars and street boys that are to be repatriated, mostly to Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Jigawa, Kano, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states.
“And this time around we have some from Abia, Imo and Delta states.”
Amar-Rabe said that the FCT Minister of State, Aliyu, had been in contact with some of the state governments through their liaison offices to ensure that the affected states were more responsive.
”What we noticed from some of the destitute and baggers that they consider the FCT safer and economically viable, especially those of the North west and the North East.
”So people from these zones move to Abuja for survival and some of them, we discovered that begging and destitution has become an attitude to them.
”The street boys that constitute menace and defaced the Federal Capital City, some of whom at a particular point in time, manifest into another threat to the security of the residents, especially those that sleep under bridges claiming to be destitute, but most of them are criminals,” he said. (GBN)
