The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to retract his recent threat to arrest beggars in Abuja or face legal action. Wike, during the inauguration of a road project in the Katampe District of Abuja, declared his intention to remove beggars from the streets, labeling their presence as a growing embarrassment to the capital. He warned that enforcement agents would start apprehending beggars from next Monday.
In response, SERAP urged Wike to instead focus on providing sustainable solutions to poverty and homelessness in the FCT. The civil society group argued that criminalizing individuals for their socio-economic status violates their human rights and will do little to address the root causes of extreme poverty in the city. SERAP emphasized that the FCT administration should adopt policies aimed at rehabilitating and reintegrating beggars into society, offering them opportunities to build more secure lives.
SERAP’s strong stance comes on the heels of its broader efforts to promote accountability and transparency, especially concerning the use of public resources in Nigeria. The group has previously raised concerns about the allocation of funds in the FCT and called for increased measures to reduce poverty rather than punitive actions against vulnerable populations. Arresting beggars, they argue, will only exacerbate the issue rather than solve it.
