Beggars devise new tricks to survive hard times

The Punch - Nigeria

Beggars operating in the Federal Capital Territory have learnt to beat the current harsh economic realities by evolving new survival strategies, JOHN AMEH writes
For many Nigerians, the times are hard, no doubt. As the negative effects of the current slump in the economy continue to bite harder, jobs have become increasingly difficult to come by.
As if to buttress this fact, the National Bureau of Statistics estimates that in 2014, for example, 22.6 million Nigerians were unemployed. The figure, the Bureau says, represents about 31 per cent of the country’s population.
However, thousands of Nigerians from different parts of the country troop to Abuja, the nation’s capital, almost every day in search of a means of livelihood.
They arrive in the city expecting that it holds the key to job opportunities that will help bring an end to their misery.
Unfortunately, as many of these visitors often discover, the streets of Abuja are not paved with gold and jobs are harder to find here than in other parts of the country. Soon it dawns on them that they cannot afford to feed well and pay for decent accommodation or other basic services.
To survive the hard times, hundreds of residents now engage in all kinds of activities in the city, such as chasing after vehicles in traffic, hawking various ware, evacuating refuse or entertaining people with snake shows and monkey dances.
Yet, in the midst of the crowds, there are certain men and women that one may call ingenious ‘beggars.’ They are not the usual beggars you find on the streets. These ones pack a bag of tricks with them, using deceit to defraud unsuspecting sympathisers, who think they are assisting genuine beggars.
It is interesting to see these so-called beggars at work and to observe how they get away with their tricks. Here in Abuja, such people come in different shades.
Using children to attract sympathy
Many so-called beggars in the FCT, especially women, have formed the habit of using underage children to attract sympathy from passersby. Their choice locations include roads with regular gridlocks, areas around hospitals and markets, traffic light/intersections, street and neighbourhood corners. It is not uncommon to see women carrying toddlers who look quite malnourished on their backs or holding them in their hands, begging in such places. It is obvious that the children serve as baits to draw the attention of members of the public.
In gridlocks, these beggars thrust the babies at motorists in a bid to win their sympathy for the ‘condition’ of the sickly looking child, as they beg for money.
Often, solicitations like, “Pity my baby; he is very ill”, is heard, as the motorists battle to tackle the scorching heat in the traffic.
But, investigation shows that the majority of the children are not sick at all. It also reveals that these female beggars are not the biological mothers of the infants.
According to some residents who are familiar with the modus operandi of these beggars, most of the children are allegedly drugged to look weak and sickly just to attract sympathy.
Mr. David Kwache, a civil servant, tells our correspondent that some of the children are “rented” from the real mothers for a few hours by the beggars for the purpose of using them to ask for alms.
“The practice is common. There is a syndicate involving even the parents of the children. The mother rents out the baby for the agreed number of hours and she gets a cut from the beggar’s takes.
“Some unsuspecting people give alms, believing they are contributing to a worthy cause, but there is a lot of deceit going on. Law enforcement agents sometimes carry out raids to rid the streets of these characters”, Kwache says.
Wounds that never heal
This is another group of beggars with a bag full of tricks in Abuja. They carry injuries that never heal and they continue to beg, blaming their “pitiable condition” on the injuries.
The trick here is to apply dressing to the ‘wound’ daily, making it look fresh all the time.
“Help me with money to go to hospital”, “I can’t afford the cost of treatment”, and other similar claims may be heard as they accost you on the road.
“It is a funny thing that some of these people do. Unfortunately, they make things harder for genuine beggars to get help”, one resident, Anthony Uche, shares with this reporter.
According to Uche, the beggars apply some colours that appear like blood stains to the dressing in order to give the impression that there is a deep cut or injury underneath that has defied treatment, just to win sympathy.
“They claim not to have money to go for adequate treatment. But the truth is that, all year round, they have been using the same excuse to collect money from sympathisers”, Uche adds.
He notes that since using such injuries to win sympathy has proved to be quite rewarding, the beggars will prefer to continue that way.
“If they realise that people are beginning to suspect them in particular areas, they quickly change locations to avoid any untoward development”, he says.
The visitor whose uncle, brother is out of town
Many city dwellers will attest to the fact that they have been stopped by this group of beggars several times. They are the ‘travelers’ or ‘visitors’ who came from another town, village or wherever to visit family members, only to learn that they have left town! They are stranded and they need help to return to base since the persons they came to visit suddenly left town and they have nobody to put up with in Abuja.
“They can walk up to you in the car park or any general public area and they tell a pathetic story of how they are stranded. Ask why they didn’t call to be sure their host would be available before they embarked on the trip and they blame it on poor mobile telecommunications services. They called but network was bad. Imagine.
“In their bid to get help, they will tell you that they have some money and all they are asking you is to add just N200 or N300 to complete their transport fare. They are everywhere in the city”, a restaurant owner, Mrs. Agatha Daniel, says.
The storyteller at hospital, corner shops
Walk near a hospital and some man will appear suddenly from nowhere to weave a pathetic story of how his wife is in labour. “Please, assist me, it is my wife ooo! She is in labour, but the bill the doctor is demanding is too much. I can’t afford it. Any amount will do sir”, he will say.
The same person will go to another health centre on a different day to tell the same story to unsuspecting passersby.
There are those who will claim their relatives have just had a successful surgery, but they have no money left to buy drugs and food. The story must sound very pathetic to elicit the anticipated response from the person about to be conned.
At corner shops or entrances to some malls in the city, another group of beggars prance about, telling similar stories. It is either they have run out of cash or the Automated Teller Machine nearby has rejected their cards! They want you to add just a little money to what they have, so they can pick up an item urgently.
“I think this is an act they have rehearsed over and over again and they exude so much confidence when they speak to you. They are careful to cover up any loopholes in the stories that may prompt you to ask questions. They have a set of rehearsed answers too for your probing questions; so, it’s all about survival.
“But, I think many people are aware of these acts now and they try to avoid parting with their money to some crooks in the name of assisting fake beggars”, Mr. Shuaibu Musa, a clothes dealer, says.
Further investigation shows that security agencies and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board are aware of the activities of these fake beggars. Several raids have been carried out at some of their operational spots by board officials and security agencies in a bid to rid the city of them. It’s a running battle of hide and seek.
They normally go out of circulation for a while after such raids, only to return to the beat again with newer tricks.
An enforcement official with the AEPB, Mr. Garba Jatto, says begging, hawking or selling at undesignated locations in Abuja remain banned.
“Such persons, whether you call them fake beggars, professional beggars, genuine beggars or whether they are in need, will be flushed out of the city.
“People are warned to beware of the activities of persons posing to be in need or physically-challenged, when in truth, they are not. There are hoodlums among them too and they can dispossess residents of their valuables.
“There have been prosecutions. A lot of them pay fines”, he tells our correspondent.