Lagos wants to ban street begging and I have mixed feelings

Yesterday the Lagos State House of Assembly passed a bill for second reading that wants to ban street begging across the state. Desmond Elliot from Surulere said they should show compassion especially for children, take them off the streets and give them rehabilitation. But Bonu Solomon from Badagry said most of these beggars are not even from Lagos, so the law should also target the people giving them money.

The thing is, I get the security concern. We have all seen how beggars crowd the bridges and roundabouts, and some of them are not even really begging, it is a cover for something else. But you cannot just arrest 396 people like they did on Tuesday and deport them back to their states without solving the root problem. Where will they go? Back to Kano, Kaduna, Niger? Those states have their own begging problems too.

Speaker Mudashiru Obasa said they want structured charity so donations reach genuine people through proper channels. That sounds nice on paper but in this country, structured charity often means somebody's cousin gets the contract. Be honest, do you really trust the government to handle this properly or will it just become another way to harass poor people?