Obasa Olatunbosun


Sometime ago, a colleague of mine posted on his WhatsApp status that Ibadan had become a haven for beggars and deep down I thought it was unfair for him to judge like that. Little did I know that I was about to be wowed in a way one would not want to be.

A few weeks later, I took a trip down to the wonderful ancient city to blow off some steam accumulated from the stress of working in Lagos. I touched down at my Uncle's place around Apata axis though I arrived late in the night. The following day, I called my two friends from way back in school ; Adeteju and Kingsley who lived close to my uncle's place.
We hooked up and decided on Shoprite at Dugbe. On getting to Shoprite, we went about looking for what to get and we eventually settled for jollof rice and chicken. After getting our food, we strolled down to the lounge which was empty as there was no tenant and settled down to eat our food.

A few minutes later, two young girls of about thirteen walked towards us and eventually past us into the mall. Minutes later, they came towards us and stood in front of us
"Please give us some money." One of them said in a singsong accentuated Yoruba. We were surprised as our thoughts included the assumption that the venue gave us the immunity from awkward situations like that. We were wrong. Adeteju's sociological mind kicked in and she kicked off with a series of questions.
"What about your parents?" Was Teju's response to her request.
"I don't know where my mother is. My father has chased me out of the house because of his new wife."
"Where do you stay?"
"I stay with my friend's family."
"What class are you?"
"JSS 2"

The interrogation continued for about fifteen minutes more after which we learnt that the girl had made up her mind to be a professional beggar and her beat would be Shoprite. We also found out that she ran away from home because her father could not afford to give more than he could.

After the interrogation, she gave the girl two hundred naira and her barely touched chicken and we talked on for a while before we departed.
The following day, as we were observing sanitation in my uncle's place, I heard a rap on the gate but since it was not my house, I didn't open it only for my cousin to open it and an able bodied middle- aged man was standing at the gate begging for money.

I never had it in mind to take a trip anytime soon but necessity warranted a trip for me. I was on my way down to Ife when I decided to break the trip into parts as I could not physically and mentally bear to sit down for too long thereby boarding Ibadan and taking the Ife bus afterwards.

On alighting at Iwo road, I strolled down to the bus park where I would get a bus going to my destination and boarded it. First, an able bodied woman in white approached our bus and started begging for alms in a jovial manner. Evolution had hit the art of begging. I gave her 50 naira as I was ironically intrigued by her style of begging.
Passengers started filling the bus and suddenly we were besieged by four beggars at once with one woman standing sentry on the other side of the window where I sat pressing. After some minutes, she was evidently fed up and started hurling mild but bitter insults at me.

What has happened to the ancient city. Is it laziness on the part of the people or the immediate past administration? Either way, something has to be done about this menace else some beggar might kill an individual because he refused to give him alms that he is not entitled to.

That is how it was, so shall be when people votes for religion bigotry over right thinking person


Anyway they have original change now Makinde over to you

Allot of adulth children have changed their destiny by begging for arms ...to me I feel arms are giving to people that cannot work but in south west you will see complete human that can talk ,walk ,jump etc. I'm into logistics I move to different parts of lagos on daily bases ,'my brother if you put 100k for pocket e go finish o ' mostly the once wearing white from Osun state government should rade them with taskforce and return them back to their state ,lagos and other south west states are filled with un productive persons .


I went to oshodi I saw a woman complete o nothing do her ,she dy eat rice the next thing she said brother give me money with yoruba with the second hand i nor fit bear erm again I tell her say 8am you the eat rice water me I never drink this morning she look me with bad eye wake pass

Honestly, it's embarrassing! In your car, taking a stroll, they are just everywhere. Able-bodied beggars with a feeling of entitlement and who have no qualms insulting you when you ignore them. Then there are many 'mad' people as well, who beg for money and buy stuffs from market women. It's a shame really.