Nigerian Snate on Tuesday described street begging as a menace that is embarrassing the country.
It therefore began a move to enact a law that will make street begging illegal.
The lawmaker representing Bauchi-Central Senatorial District, Senator Isah Hamma Misau, while moving a motion titled, ‘Menace of Street Begging and the Need to Rehabilitate Beggars,’ expressed concern over the spate of street begging and nuisance it constitutes on the streets of city centres across the country.
“Though street begging is a global urban problem, the situation in Nigeria appears intractable and overwhelming, as beggars are now found everywhere, especially at motor parks, religious centres, road junctions, venue of ceremonies and other public places,” he said.
According to Misau, beggars were persons with physical and mental challenges or grossly indigent in the past.
“In recent times, there appear to be a new vogue of beggars in town, derisively known as corporate beggars, who take advantage of the sympathy of the society for the less privileged to remain jobless and at times perpetrate crimes in the name of street begging,” the senator noted.