….‘we caught one of them with a dane gun’
Oyo state government has called on the people of the state to support government in eradicating street begging and destitute in the state.
This was stated by the Commissioner for women affairs and social inclusion, Alhaja Kafilat Olayiwola, while engaging community leaders, to address the challenges of destitute around the streets in the state.
Olayiwola said that government has realized that all its efforts to eradicate street begging and destitute in Oyo state proved futile, saying that after providing a place of respite for them, they still return to their usual uncomfortable spots.
She further hinted that government has now introduced community involvement and engagement to eradicate the act in the state.
Olayiwola called on community leaders to collaborate with government to eradicate street begging and destitute on the street.
In her words: “We realized that despite all our efforts since all these days, they have been so stubborn. Anytime we moved them to the normal location in Akinyele within 24 hours, they leave and come back again to their usual spots.
“We now decided to use another strategy, which is community involvement and engagement.
“Any community we get to, starting from Sabo, we went to see the leaders in the community. We told them that on behalf of the people of Oyo state, we want them to support us. And I believe now that we have involved them, we are going to see good results.
“We intend to put a very big banner where we are going to put pictures of beggars and we put our red cross showing that we don’t want to see them there again.
“We were surprised that on the way to new Gbagi, we saw a yoruba man with a dane gun. When the Amotekun operatives searched his body, we saw him with gun and he too sat with the beggars.
“So, this is one of the reasons why we have to all hput hands together to ensure that we eradicate the act of street begging.
“Another issue is, we have a lot of dirty things they put on our streets. We need to contact Ministry of Environment to go right there to pack all the rags and other dirty things they put along.”
In his remark, Mogaji Oderinlo, said that he would delivered the message of government to Seriki (Head of Hausa community) that if they cannot comply with government by moving to Akinyele settlement, they should move to Sabo.
He further gave warning to all beggars in Mapo Hill to evacuate themselves from Mapo and its environ.
The community street engagement started at Sabo through Eleyele, Labo, Oje, Mapo Hill, Bodija to Iwo Road and ended at Gbagi market.
