By Okon Bassey
Feeling concerned about the nuisance caused by men and women who use children to beg for arms, Akwa Ibom State government has been directed to take steps to remove them from the streets.
The State House of Assembly gave the directive Thursday after deliberation on a motion titled: “Stopping the Menace of Able-bodied Men and Women Begging for Alms with Babies/Toddlers in the Streets of Uyo” introduced by the Leader of the House, Rt. Hon. Udo Kieran Akpan.
The lawmakers particularly urged the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare in conjunction with Uyo Capital City Development Authority (UCCDA) to take immediate action to rid the streets, junctions, traffic points and other identified points in the state capital and its environs of people using children to beg for alms.
They equally called on the security agencies to interface with the beggars with a view to finding out where they stay at night, their motives and, where possible, take them out of the street.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs in the state was also asked to design a system whereby young vagrants and beggars are rescued from their exploiters and rehabilitated in the motherless homes or other rehabilitation institutions.
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