As the directive given to beggars to leave Abuja streets ended on Sunday, the FCT Administration yesterday began a clamp down on them, including scavengers and other destitute.
Daily Trust reports that no fewer than 15 beggars and 19 scavengers were arrested during the operation.
The operation, which included the police, military, DSS, NSCDC and other paramilitary agencies – saw them deployed in four groups to different locations in the city centre in search of beggars and miscreants, who are living under bridges and in tunnels.
FCT Police Commissioner, Olatunji Disu, who termed the operation as “A national assignment”, directed that the officers involved in the enforcement must be professional and uncompromising in carrying out the ministerial orders.
He noted that the operation would last for two weeks, after which the strategies would be reevaluated and reinvigorated.
“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”, he said.
Speaking on the first day of the operation, the Director, FCT Security Services Department, Adamu Gwari, said it would be conducted day and night in order to achieve the desired results.
The director, who was represented by Dr Peter Olumuji, explained that the first-day operation had four groups sectorized into four sectors.
‘’We have the metro, which is the city centre; we have the Airport Road that covers the entire airport road from the City Gate up to Bill Clinton road; we also have the Kubwa axis that covers Kubwa, Gwarimpa up to Dei Dei; and we have the last group that covers Asokoro, AYA, Nyanya, Karu and Jikwoyi.
“All these will carry out the operation simultaneously”, he said.
He disclosed that while no beggar was arrested in the city centre because they had all gone into hiding, 15 of them and 19 scavengers were arrested from different other locations.
He said, “We realised that most of them have actually heard the voice of the minister. Notwithstanding, we have one or two that are still trying to test the waters 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”.
Also speaking, the Head of Enforcement, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEBP), Kaka Bello, said the operation was not just about beggars, but sanitising the city of every nuisance.
Bello noted that roadside traders and all technicians who operate at illegal places would be evacuated during the operation.
On the fate of the arrested beggars, the Director Social Welfare in the FCTA, Dr Sani Rabe, said they would be taken to the government’s rehabilitation centre located at Kuchikon in 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.
