It was on a hot afternoon recently and an accident involving two petrol tankers was causing traffic on the expressway, making many Lagos outbound motorists divert to an untarred road leading to the Arepo under-bridge. It was also through this under-bridge that motorists from Arepo heading for Lagos usually exit the community.
Nearby the alms-begging children, some women in tattered clothes sat on a dusty steep path leading to the under-bridge. They appeared to be the children’s mothers. Some of them were seen breastfeeding their babies under a short tree that could not provide them the shade they desired. Still, they did not bother, shielding their babies from the hot sun with the same dirty and torn wrappers they wore. Dirty plastic plates were placed in their front, from which they ate rice.
The system has since been criticised and while many have called for its complete ban, some others have called for its reformation but there still seems to be no end in sight of young out-of-school children roaming the streets in a quest for survival. “In fact, the traditional ruler of Arepo also went to the area command at Owode Police Station to lodge complaints about the matter, calling for the children to be relocated but his complaints were turned a deaf ear to. We are helpless right now.
A pharmacist in Arepo, Mrs Bunmi Ogunsanya, also said she was perturbed by the situation. “There was a time one of them almost broke my car’s side mirror while I was driving just to seek my attention. I didn’t know he held onto the mirror tightly. I was initially mad at him but I pitied him and gave him some snacks. However, the situation is worrisome. We can’t afford to allow the almajiri system to creep here,” she said.
He said, “Nigeria is fighting all sorts of conflicts these days. The children are vulnerable; they have no education, food, or shelter. They can be manipulated by unscrupulous people and constitute a security threat. Children like that have been recruited into gangs and are causing terror in the country, especially in the North. That is why even some northern governors have banned street begging by the almajiri children.
Another security expert, Mr Sunday Akinwande, said the almajiri children might have travelled down to the area during the pandemic when the Northern Governors’ Forum decided to repatriate the almajirai to their states of origin.
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