Woman arrested for begging with borrowed twins

The Rescue Operations Team of the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development yesterday paraded one Adiza, who was picked up last week for begging with a set of borrowed twins at Costain area of the state.

Adiza, who hails from Niger State, was thereafter taken to the Rehabilitation and Training Centre in Majidun, Ikorodu for shelter and further social investigation. Preliminary investigations revealed that Adiza was not the biological mother of the babies, who were about a year old. The babies were given out to her by their biological mother, Aminat, who is Adiza’s sister.

Adiza would usually take the children out for begging after her sister, Aminat, must have breastfed them. Aminat, in turn, gets paid daily from the money made. According to Adiza, she makes an average of N600 daily. “On good days when I make N1,000, I give their mother N600 while I keep N400,” she told newsmen.

However, efforts by the ministry to invite Aminat, the biological mother of the twins to the state secretariat at Alausa, had proved abortive, as she had since gone into hiding for fear of being arrested.

Reiterating the state government’s zero tolerance for street begging, the Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, said: “Begging is not allowed in Lagos. What future do we have for our kids when they start to beg as toddlers. The law will take its due course and. Anybody caught should be ready to face the full wrath of the law.”

She warned Lagosians to desist from giving alms to beggars, “rather, they should channel their support to orphanage homes or identify those in their immediate environment in need of help them. “Being physically-challenged does not make you a beggar. I urge all physically -challenged persons to come in through the proper channel provided by the state government for necessary assistance.