A total of 66 beggars and street urchins have been arrested across Ilorin by the Kwara State Government following a renewed crackdown aimed at enhancing security in the state capital.
The arrests, which included 28 women, 17 men, and 21 children, were carried out by officials from the Ministry of Social Development through a Mobile Court stationed at the ministry’s headquarters in Ilorin.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the Commissioner for Social Development, Hajia Mariam Nnafatima-Imam, led the ministry’s enforcement team in the recent sweep that targeted major locations across the metropolis.
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In a statement issued on Sunday, the Press Secretary of the ministry, Janet Bogunjoko, listed the areas covered in the operation as Post-Office, Taiwo Road, Asa-Dam Road, Gerin-Alimi, Garage Offa Roundabout, and Tanke.
“The commissioner confirmed that they were caught indulging in begging at different locations in the Ilorin metropolis where they were earlier prohibited,” the statement read.
Nnafatima-Imam said the growing presence of beggars and street urchins posed a threat to public safety and had become a concern for the government.
“She explained that the evacuation of the beggars and street urchins became necessary because of their proliferation and threat to security in the state capital,” the statement added. “The state government had to go tough and applied decisive punishment on them owing to their persistent proliferation despite various sensitisation campaigns and warnings undertaken by the state government through various platforms of communication.”
She further warned that the government would sustain the exercise and take strict action against those who ignore repeated directives to vacate the streets.
The arrested individuals were arraigned before a Mobile Court at the ministry, where Senior Magistrate Jumoke Bello presided over the proceedings and issued appropriate sentences.
In her ruling, Magistrate Bello directed the offenders to engage in community service, including public cleaning and hoeing, in accordance with the Kwara State Social Development Laws.
Five of the offenders were also sentenced to one-month improvement terms at federal correctional facilities in the state.
