The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has removed 607 beggars and mentally challenged persons from the streets of Abuja between July 2025 and now.
The Head of Enforcement at the FCT Social Development Secretariat, Mrs Ukachi Adebayo, disclosed this on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
According to Adebayo, the operation was carried out by the Operation Sweep Abuja Clean team. She said 583 of those evacuated were beggars, while 23 were persons with mental health challenges.
She explained that those apprehended were counselled and profiled before being handed over to their respective state liaison offices for repatriation and rehabilitation.
Adebayo noted that many of the individuals often return to the streets after evacuation, adding that the operation would remain continuous.
“Some of them are driven by insecurity in their states and come to Abuja to seek refuge, but we will continue to apprehend them and take them back,” she said.
Similarly, the Acting Director of Social Welfare at the secretariat, Mrs Gloria Onwuka, said investigations revealed that some children used for begging were brought from other states by individuals who collect the proceeds.
Onwuka added that in several cases, women arrested while begging with children were not their biological mothers, describing street begging as an organised business.
Also speaking, the Secretary of the FCTA Command and Control Centre, Dr Peter Olumuji, said Operation Sweep was a joint security initiative involving multiple agencies and was approved by FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
Olumuji said beggars pose security risks, sometimes acting as informants to criminals, while also defacing the city and exposing themselves to other dangers.
He added that the operation would continue to rid Abuja of beggars, miscreants and other criminal elements wherever they resurfaced.
Wike had, in October 2024, declared a crackdown on street begging in Abuja, warning that the capital must not be allowed to turn into what he described as a “beggars’ city.”