ExpdonaLoaded.blogspot.com (+2348097205188): Expdonaloaded News; In need or just greedy?

Saturday 25 July 2015

Expdonaloaded News; In need or just greedy?

As the sun beats down on passers-by, little Ibrahim sat with his dog on the pedestrian bridge located at Leventis bus-stop just near the popular CMS bus-stop, Lagos, to shield himself from its scorching rays. He cut a forlorn figure as he observed the passersby walking to and from different sides of the bridge.

As our correspondent moved towards him, he stretched out his arm and putting it across his stomach, he said: “I beg, help me, I am hungry. Give me some money to buy food, please. I beg you in the name of God.” One could not but pity the situation of the innocent looking boy. Giving him N50, he smiled with a thank-you to match.
Ibrahim, 10, hails from Niger Republic. He lost his father a year ago. He has been moving from pillar to post since he came to Nigeria looking for his brother who, according to him, brought him to Lagos.
“My father died last year and my mother is in Niger Republic. I have two elder brothers and two younger sisters. My father brought me and my brothers to Nigeria to look for work but we turned to beggars when our money finished.”
When asked about the whereabouts of his brothers, he burst into tears as he spoke.
“My brothers left me on this bridge since January and told me that they were coming back, but I have not seen them since then. My mother is in Niger Republic now. I live and sleep on this bridge, because I have no place to go,” he said.
Also, on the same bridge were some other beggars like Ibrahim who were seen either sleeping or begging for alms.post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com..
Kanaye, 36, on the other hand, says he is from Lome in Togo. He came to Lagos to seek for greener pastures before he was crippled by a hit-and-run driver.
“I came into Lagos about three years ago to seek employment. I couldn’t find one, so I resorted to being a bricklayer. It was in 2014, February to be precise that a danfo (commercial bus) hit me before I became crippled,” he said.
The accident, according to Kanaye, finished his resources. Now, he sleeps on the bridge every night at Leventis, and begs for a living because he no longer has money for the treatment, neither does he have money to go back to Togo.
Asked what help he needs, he said: “I want to go back home to Lome, it is clear that Nigeria is not an easy country, if I get enough money I will go back, it is better to die at home where my people will bury me properly than to die on the street.”
“I was of the opinion that Nigeria is a paradise,” he stated. “People in our place used to talk about Nigeria, especially Lagos, as if money could be picked from the floor. So, I saved up small money to come down here and met the opposite. I resorted to begging in order to save up and go back to my village for treatment”, he added.
But two brothers, Mustapha and Kalou, 14 and 16 years respectively, told Saturday Sun that they like begging on the street.
“Who would not like it?” they asked. “People are kind, they give you food, some clothes or they give you money every day and you say we should not like it. That’s how we survive”
Investigations revealed that while some of these beggars that induce pity and compassion fail to see their condition as deserving pity, quite a number of them see it as a business venture.
Across the country today, new races of ‘clever’ beggars are on the prowl. Many now seem to be joining the bandwagon of those who depend on begging for living with different operational tactics.
Some women would pose with babies strapped on their backs, drawing sympathy from passersby. Others, some well dressed will tell a lie, that they lost their wallet, with no means of transportation. Yet others would fake an ailment all in a bid to extort money from a generous giving public.
Joshua, a trader at Ajah motor park, recalled the case of a ‘beggar’ who asked him for money to get to Lawanson in Surulere. Out of pity, he gave him N500. But after some days, he found the same so-called beggar at the same spot, telling a well-cooked story of his wallet being stolen.
“He was well-dressed and could convince anyone with his sweet lies. I shouted at him and he quickly left the motor park, but still moved to another bus-stop. I can never do that again,” he said.
Another tactics used by the fake beggars is preaching the Bible. They often use titles like ‘brother’, ‘evangelists’ etc and are often found in markets, travelling buses or at corners of major streets and garages.
They dole out prayers reminding passengers and passers-by of the importance of committing the activities of the day into the hands of the Lord. But after that, they start appealing to passengers with strong verses from the Bible to “support the ministry of spreading the word” by giving them envelopes requesting donations.