Oyo government vows to take beggars, destitute off streets

Oyo State Government has vowed not rest on its oars until beggars and destitute are totally taken off the nooks and crannies of the state.

The state’s Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Alhaja Kafilat Olayiwola, stated this in Ibadan during the evacuation of beggars and mentally-ill persons within the Ibadan metropolis.

According to Olayiwola, Oyo State Government is determined to remove destitute, beggars and mentally-challenged persons from all the streets to rehabilitation centre.

She said the evacuation would be a continuous one and that the well-being of all the evacuees would be adequately catered for.

The Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Grace Oderinde, who corroborated the commissioner, noted that destitute, beggars and mentally-ill persons were constituting environmental hazards on the streets and at strategic locations in the state.

Oderinde said the state government through the Ministry Women Affairs and Social Inclusion Ministry was intensifying efforts to address the menace.

She assured that all the evacuees would be adequately taken care of and treated at the rehabilitation centre in Akinyele, Ibadan, and thereafter engage them in what would add value to their life.

A cross section of Ibadan residents has commended the state government for evacuating the destitute and beggars. They urged the government to make the evacuation a routine exercise, so as to discourage the beggars from the acts, and appealed to the government not to allow those evacuees escape from the rehabilitation centre.