The Borno state Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, has confirmed that some of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) have abandoned their camps and turned street beggars in the state.
The Commandant who spoke to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri, the state capital said that the situation is an eye sore that he would do everything possible to stop the begging culture in the camps.
Abdullahi Ibrahim said that many of the IDPs who have embarked on begging for survival are those who are taking refuge with people in host communities.
Begging by the IDPs, he said: “poses danger to motorists and the beggars who can be killed or maimed by accident and even be kidnapped or infiltrated by the insurgents.
“They are also exposed to different health hazards because the beggars, mostly aged between four and seven, spend their whole day on the streets in rain and sun.
“If the ugly trend is not checked, it will encourage even the IDPs that have been relocated to liberated communities to come back and engage in begging.”
The commandant appealed to the residents of the host communities to help in checking the ugly trend before it gets out of hand. [myad]
