Lagos to flush out destitute, street beggars

With the recent approach at curtailing the activities of street begging and destitute, the Lagos State government has said it was confident of totally stemming the social menace from the state.

The State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf.

While expressed the confidence to the monthly report of destitute and beggars in the state compared the data as collected in the state presently to previous years.

According to the report, about 124 destitute and street beggars, comprising 30 destitute, 36 mentally challenged, 20 adult beggars, 28 child beggars and 10 child destitute, have been evacuated from the streets in 2017.

While some were prosecuted and convicted of various offences under Section 168(1)(b) of criminal law of Lagos State 2011 (as amended), others have been put in the care of the state.

The commissioner said: “Considering where we were and where we are as the statistics have shown, it is evident that we are making progress.”

Meanwhile, the government said it had swung into full investigation of the circumstances leading to the collapse of the three-floor storey building at Ilasamaja of the state, last Thursday, vowing to deal decisively with any developer found to have violated the State Building Control Law.

The state’s Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Wasiu Anifowose, said this while speaking with journalists after an on-the-spot assessment of the collapsed site.

He said the building in question was disapproved by officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), but the developers illegally broke the seal to continue work.

Anifowose said officers in charge of that area had two weeks before the collapse disapproved the development because it was being built contrary to building regulations.

“This particular building had been monitored and had been sealed off. Our officers had come back to monitor for compliance, but they were prevented by hoodlums from carrying out their statutory responsibilities.

“We had actually served all the necessary statutory stop work notices and this is evident in our records that the building was sealed off, but this developer broke the seal twice and continued with the illegal development and this is the result of the illegality,” Anifowose said.

The commissioner added that building was sealed off on account of the evidence that the materials found on site were substandard, aside the fact that the developers had no development permit to embark on the construction.

He said the government was unhappy with the rate of illegal developments within the state, lamenting that despite deploying officers to monitor development to prevent such ugly occurrences, some unscrupulous developers still carried out nefarious illegality.

“Despite deploying officers to monitor development to prevent such ugly occurrences, some wicked, irresponsible and unscrupulous developers still carry out nefarious illegality.

“Once a building is sealed off, the seal should not be broken. It is dangerous and is a criminal offence punishable under the Building Control Law,” he said.