18 November 2008
editorial
This is not about beggars on our streets.
Beggars seem to be a feature of our streets. Governments' unwillingness to do anything about them is partly an admission of the gross failure of governments, over the years, to provide social security for the people.
Series of poor government policies, greed, corruption and leaderships blistering with blurred vision despoil the resources of the country.
This disconnects millions of Nigerians from any meaningful economic activity. Those who are part of the economy suffer easy displacement from policy conflicts, and most importantly governments' celebrated disinterest in matters that would serve peoples' interest.
Understandably, the blind, lame, increasingly those in deadly stages of various cancers and other infirmities that you can only see on our streets, beat the elements to elicit public sympathy for their survival.
In Lagos, street begging and giving to beggars is an offense. The law is breached in the same manner as the 1978 decree banning street trading. If infirmed beggars can be tolerated, what do we do with a more dangerous set of beggars?
These beggars are security agents at the most sensitive areas of the nation's operations. At the airports, security agents - immigrations, police, customs, anti-drug agents, soldiers, port health officials - have formed a formidable team that harasses travellers for money.
Where are their supervisors? Is it true they share their loot with their bosses? It is an embarrassment for our security officials to beg travellers, including foreigners, for money. This does not happen elsewhere.
Some of these beggars are brazen. They could delay travelers who do not comply with their demands. Many travellers report their embarrassment at these incidents that can easily compromise the nation's security.
If security personnel see their duty posts as harvesting points, they can take money from travellers and allow them to board the aircraft with arms or banned substances. Could it be that the security agents do not realise the importance of their duties or the implications of their disgraceful acts?
After the spates of global terrorism attacks, most countries have taken great care to tighten security at their ports of entry and public buildings. Here the story is different. Nothing has changed.
Security personnel expect visitors to most public places to give them money for the most infinitesimal assistance. It may be something as little as pointing out the staircase. They are not interested in the person's business. Once he pays, he can go in and blow down the building if he pleases.
At airports, the interests security personnel show are mainly hints to international travellers that they could miss their flights if they do not pay up quickly. They resort to delaying travellers where threats fail.
Foreigners must be laughing at us. Hordes of security personnel, many of them off duty, descend on travellers to extort money from them. This happens without anybody applying any sanctions on the erring officials.
Someone should save the nation the shame of these beggars and the dangers they bring to their duties.
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Not about street beggars than you look at the title of that piece of smut Perry Fisher,MD
That article was not written by a Nigerian journalist ,obviously,Note the lack of harmony,and good syntax in the composition.Sure there are beggars in Lagos in particular Victoria Island but it trails off as you leave the larger cities. There is fertile land a plenty and those begging and doing raskality could do subsistance farming.Contra disposed look at calcutta the worlds largest populated city also the largest population of organized street beggars in the world is there .Why not write an article on the beggars of Calcutta vis-a-vis the Beggars of the Indian subcontinant,yet India tried to land a space… [Read Full Text]