Vocational centres for beggars

The federal government has established vocational training centres to provide alternative occupations for the growing number of disabled beggars in the capital, Abuja, the daily newspaper ‘ThisDay’ reported on Monday.

“My administration is desirous of ridding the streets of Abuja of destitutes,” Mohammed Abba-Gana, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, said.

However, one source told IRIN the centres will face a difficult task given the large numbers of beggars in he city.

Meanwhile, the Lagos-based Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) and an eminent northern elder, Musa Bello, have urged the federal government to tackle the problems of child beggars in the north and increasing incidents of child abuse across the country, ‘ThisDay’ reported.

Large groups of children between the six and 18 years beg for alms when they should be in school, the daily reported Bello as saying. The CLO called on the authorities to respect their obligations as Nigeria was a signatory to various international conventions on the rights of the child. The CLO also urged the creation of a ministry of children’s affairs to monitor, report and argue on behalf of children.