Shelters in Nigeria.

I don’t think I have heard of any shelters in Nigeria. Do you think that having Shelters in Nigeria will make a difference in the community? Do you think the shelters will get the homeless off the street from begging?

If you answer yes to all the questions mentioned above, how will you go about having one in Nigeria? Do you think the Government should get involved as well?

Many of the beggars in Nigeria are professional beggars. They have wives and children and live surprisingly well.

it is the responsibility of the government of any country to provide facility. Moreovere, if such is even provided by the government or any one, there is no quarantee that it will serve its purpose, most of these beggers are business people and would not want to miss out by being confined to a particular place.

the place may even end up becoming a hideout for hoodlums.

.

the shelter could provide a roof for them for a year. the 1 year is to enable them to have enough time to look for jobs and get a good place to live.

the "real" beggars have psychiatric problems or are mad, there is another set like seun mentioned professional beggers who just beg because it's easy, then those lazy and useless able-bodied men on Lagos Island (Alaye) who beg you for money or threathen to destroy your car.

Deep Soul:

@Seun,
The fact that someone begs at all is a sure sign that he or she isnt living well. Begging is degrading and I refuse to believe anyone enjoys it. Any1 who begs isnt living well.

Shelters in Nigeria will go a long way to help but in my opinion, it'll only make people lazier. They'll now have an excuse not to find some form of work 2 do. But then, that's just the down-side.

Some People enjoy prostitution/stripping for the easy money it brings, I bet you would call it degrading too. All the person has to do is kill that fear of shame and they do what they do.

Cultural
Can you explain?

It depends - I believe in "Give a man a fish and he will come back for more but show a man how to fish and he won't return after that day (abi na so dem dey talk am?)"

Some pple, as a very wise man once told me don't need help. U provide the shelter and they end up over-staying, to the detriment of those who really need the help. Besides, and I know Seun will love to hear this , if government decides to get into the biz of providing homeless shelters, what is next and how many could they possibly build? To me it's the equivalent of someone who decides to start a buffet biz in naija - the person would be setting themselves up for failure.

What wd I do instead? Thanks for asking - I would provide the shelter but inmates would only stay under the condition of getting a job after a given period. Of course, I would be actively involved in making sure they get a job via necessary training, setting up and inviting companies to say, a job fair, etc.

It's a double-edged sword folks - damned if you do and damned if you don't. That being said, it is govt's (and I know Seun will turn around and hate me for this ) to cater to its citizenry. After all, where there is no form of hope for those who need it, restlessness and anarchy usually set in. The govt wd certainly not want that

Golden Gates in V.I has buffets and they have not gone out of business. All you have to do is make it expensive and the rich people would come, and since they want to act all "creme" they would not stuff themselves with lots of food so its a win win situation.

Zebudaya

Any rich man who goes to buffet has some problems. It is for the masses, not the guy who can afford to eat at the finest restaurants. At least thatz how i c it. I am aware of the buffets in naija, but based on location: are those the only places in naija? Based on price: who are you trying to cater to - the top echelon or the many pple "at the bottom" whose combined biz could indeed overtake that of the pple it is aimed for? Tis the concept of "The Long Tail" which is a biz concept that is picking up steam these days.

I get ur point o, don't get me wrong, but it is high time certain biz catered to "the common man" there. Aren't they the real Nigerians?

I go to Buffets because i have the opportunity to Choose what I want to eat. I'm a simple man i don't enjoy fancy and expensive restaurants and all those bright lights, I go once in a while but's it's not my main thing.

Lets not kid ourselves. Poor people would not behave themselves at a buffet and that's why you believe that anybody operating buffet business in Nigeria would go out of business. For it to succeed it has to be exclusive, and people have to think about it as the place to be seen or to go celebrate something big. eg chocolate royal, tantalizers etc.

There would always be other restaurants that cater to the common man. I would gladly cater to the common man if he can pay.

You guys are diverting this topic to Buffets in Nigeria. if you want to know more please create a new thread.

Ta

zappking/twinkle, sorry for going off-topic, but I just have to reply one more time besides, there has been a thread on buffets on NL already

Zebudaya, u and i will just have to agree to disagree. You prefer catering to the upper-class and the common man who "can afford it". I choose to cater exclusively to the common man. Y? cos a collection of the common man wd anyday beat the money spent by the upper class. Besides, if the upper-class are as "upper" as they proclaim, then again I repeat:

1) They shdnt go to buffets. They shd watch their diets cos they can afford to spend the money on healthy foods

2) They wouldn't b visiting buffets frequently. If this were to happen, then such buffets wouldnt be making that much money anyways, cos pple wdnt visit them that often. Whereas nwannem would probably go every day.

Am just saying. Ok, no more offpoint from me

It costs 200 for rice and stew at the buka, it costs 5000 to eat at my buffet all you can eat, how would the collection of the common man beat the rich?

The food at my buffet would be healthy. Grilled chicken instead of fried, roasted meat instead of fried, oil with the latest saturated fat etc. It wont be artery clogging.
Nobody can go to the buffet everyday without getting bored.


my2cents please post the link to the buffet thread so we can carry our wahala there and leave twinkledew alone

again, how many times do u go to buffet at N5000 in say, a week? at N200, it is possible that the person will spend more often. I think it is easier to drop N200 5 times than N5000 once. Again the concept of the "long tail" is pretty new. Not all are able to grasp it at this point. Amazon is one of the few companies utilizing it.

As for the thread, I did some digging and it turns out I was the original author of the post https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-12127.0.html

I shall meet you there my friend

we don't have as many homeless people as there are in the US,

to really talk about this then we have to differentiate between homeless and beggars these are two separate things


99% of beggars in Nigeria are not homeless they may not have decent accomodation but that's life accomodation is what you can afford.

whereas being homeless doesn't mean you don't have a job or are not earning income, in our society you are probably homeless because you ran away from home, or you moved to another state where you have no relatives that can squat you. people in this position can't afford accomodation of anytime so they sleep on the streets, in front of shops,under bridges and some churches

its the latter that woould benefit from shelters, but like everywhere in the world there will be cheaters who will see 'awoof' move out of their accomodation and get into a shelter

so shelters would work despite cheaters because you don't throw out the baby with the bath water

salsera:

I beg to differ. There are those pple with natural dreadlocks, tattered cloths and yellow teeth who walk around talking to themselves. I remember one from childhood who stopped by the stream i was in, dipped his cup into it, scooped water plus sand and drank it all down. Wd u call them beggars? Sure they are mad, but u think they have a place to stay at night, especially the woman who end up sleeping with some rich guy as condition of riches?

Just wondering.

Mad people don't need shelters. They need Psychiatric hospitals where they can be treated by experts.

Hi everybody, i agree with my 2 cents partially when he says it depends - I believe in "Give a man a fish and he will come back for more but show a man how to fish and he won't return after that day (abi na so dem dey talk am?)"
Some pple, as a very wise man once told me don't need help. U provide the shelter and they end up over-staying, to the detriment of those who really need the help.
and also salsera
its the latter that would benefit from shelters, but like everywhere in the world there will be cheaters who will see 'awoof' move out of their accomodation and get into a shelter
But here is what i have to say however we want to classify these people homeless,mad people, poor, 'awoof' mongers or professional beggars The main thing is that all these classes of people need help if we keep on looking at the at the downsides there is no way it can work out of 20 people at least 5 will be genuine and at the end of the day that's what counts that somewhere somehow you saved a life with a meal that may not be as Behind as zebudayas buffet(that will indeed be nice buffet to got to )but a meal that tastes good enough to eat and hopefully better that boarding school food which most of us ate despite the stones and all the extra ingredients.I advocate that it can be done with minds coming together to make it work and also expecting to be cheated, expecting ungratefulness, expecting the unexpected but still willing to do it because they want to HELP that person who cant survive because they cannot even afford N100 RICE.(pardon any grammatical blunders )

I dont think homeless shelter's should only be the responsibilityy of the government. individuals who have passion for this, shoul go for it. it is really a big pain when you see people on the road not because of their own volition, but because of circumstances