Oyo Govt Returns Over 400 Straying Destitutes To Resettlement Centre
The government of Oyo State has returned over 400 straying beggars and destitutes within Ibadan to the Akinyele Resettlement Centre, just as it plans to provide another resettlement centre to take care of others.
The state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Alhaja Kafilat Olayiwola, said this when she led raiding team on evacuation of beggars and destitutes from Jemibewon, Mokola, Sango and University of Ibadan Main Gate, on Wednesday.
She explained that other areas captured in the evacuation exercise included Challenge, Oja’ba, Oje, Bodija, Iwo Road, Gbagi and Basorun Akobo axis.
Alhaja Olayiwola, in a statement, said: “The government of the day is not interested in seeing destitutes and beggars on our roads without being fed and looking battered.
“As a result of this, the government provided a settlement for them, where they can be well fed, given proper health care and enjoy other facilities.
“But we still discovered that they go outside to beg and do other things that this government seriously frowns at. Yes, the government is planning to provide another settlement area for them apart from the one here in Akinyele.
“We have returned some of these beggars, who have been rehabilitated back to their families, having taken their profiles and known where they belonged.
“The next thing we are planning to do now is to employ security guards to take control of the gates so as to prevent them from going outside to beg for alms.
“When we went out today [Wednesday] to raid markets and neighboring streets, we were able to evacuate over 400 of them back into the settlement centre the government has provided for them and we are still expecting more.
“We all know that the focus of this administration is to ensure that the lives of the less privileged are improved upon and that is what it has been doing.
“The destitute and beggars in Oyo State need care, affection, rehabilitation and resettlement. All these have been taken care of by the state government.
“But despite the care and comfort being given to them at the resettlement centre in Akinyele, we have observed that some of them are very stubborn to the extent that they still stray back to the street.
“But the government is hell-bent in ensuring that they stay at the provided centre. We want to make sure that we enforce the law and implement their full stay in the centre.
“The government will continue to do this as we now raid in the afternoon and evening hours. So, we are ready to tackle the stuborness of these destitutes.
“Also, we sincerely appreciate the level of cooperation of the citizenry on this development. They have been so supportive and we will continue with the exercise until they comply with the orders of the state government.”
Meanwhile, a resident, Mr Wasiu Gunwa, has expressed joy on the evacuation exercise, noting that the beggars created all sorts of problems in the environment.
He admonished the state government to do more so as to ameliorate the inherent challenges facing the less privileged in the society.
