There are mounting concerns over the increasing population of destitute and the threat they pose to the environment, especially in Oyo and Ogun states. Residents and motorists said it was high time governments of the Southern states had taken proactive steps to check their influx.
Apart from the increasing number of destitute, residents lamented that their presence on road medians, carved out spaces in motor parks, junctions and roundabouts, in deviance to environmental laws, are worrisome.
Unfortunately, destitution has allegedly become a money-making venture across the South-West states, where thousands of people from the North and other neighbouring countries found their way through Kwara and or Kogi to Ogbomoso, Oyo, Ibadan, through to Ogere in Ogun State, and then to Kara, from where they dispersed to other parts of Lagos.
The Guardian gathered that some travelled in droves to the South-West without checks. An Ibadan resident, Kunle Adesola, said part of what also encourages them is that many unsuspecting Nigerians bring food items, used clothes, and other disposable materials to them” as a form of sacrifice to appease the gods”.
According to him, the majority of the children produced by these destitute are not given any form of education or vocational skills. “They rather continue in the begging ventures of their parents,” Adesola said. They are often found around Mokola Flyover in Ibadan, Ojoo, Challenge Bus Stop, and Akinyele in Ibadan.
“But as of today, the destitute are fast spreading and stationing in other strategic places like Gbagi and Bodija,” he said. In Ogun State, commercial bus operators at Ogijo Terminal, under the Sagamu Local Government, yesterday lamented how the activities of these destitute are becoming an eyesore, adding that they have also converted the drainage behind them into their convenience.
According to a driver, Isiaka Mayowa, they dump their refuse, urinate, and also defecate inside the drainage. He said this is daily and “you can see how dirty the drainage is”.
He added that the government should find a means to regulate their activities, mainly how they affect the environment. One of the street sweepers, who works under contract with the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Abike Nureni, said it wasn’t easy cleaning the Ikorodu Roundabout daily due to the nuisance generated by the destitute.
It was also learnt that the Oyo State government has routinely taken steps to address the issue of the ubiquitous destitute. Former Governor Abiola Ajimobi once resettled them at Akinyele, while the incumbent governor, Seyi Makinde, has taken several measures to address the menace but with little effect.
A trader at Mokola and another at Ojoo said: “We recall how often Task Force officials come to raid the destitute, but they keep returning to the spots.”
When contacted for comments, Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Mojeed Mogbonjubola, stated that his ministry could not speak on the issue.
However, his Ogun State counterpart, Ola Oresanya, stated that the state government has always taken up the responsibility to provide convenience to the destitute.
He explained that since the laws in Nigeria do not discriminate against any citizen from whatever part of the country they came from, the Ogun State government takes the issue as a challenge. Oresanya also disclosed that his ministry liaised with leaders of the destitute communities across the state on ways to handle their conveniences.
