The FCT Administration has clamped down on 150 beggars and destitute for constituting public nuisance and is set to repatriate them to their states of origin.

Already, the Administration is liaising with the affected state governors for the repatriation.

The evacuation of the beggars mainly women and children including old men were carried out at the weekend by officials of the Social Development Secretariat (SDS) in collaboration with the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Directorate of Road Traffic Services,  FCT Security Department and office of the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring,  Inspection, and Enforcement.

Following security threats and the need to sanitize the FCT, the Administration swung into action and picked up the beggars from major streets having shopping malls, supermarkets, Mosques, and other notorious spots for alms begging within Maitama, Wuse II, and Garki among g other areas in the city center.

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The Secretary, Social Development Secretariat (SDS), Hadiza Mohammed Kabir who revealed that the FCTA is targeting to evacuate between 400 to 1,000 beggars from the city, said the FCT Minister of State had embarked on removing beggars from the streets and cleaning the environs of Abuja.

She added that by the time they finish evacuating the beggars and proper documentation, the FCT Minister who has already commenced liaising with some state governors will finalize with all the governors of the states of origin, and thereafter, they will be repatriated back to their respective states.

The Secretary, SDS said the action was a strong warning to all beggars to stay off the streets of the FCT.

Meanwhile, the Secretary announced a ministerial pardon from the FCT Minister of State to all those arrested earlier in the week. But with a strong warning not to return to the streets.

Similarly, the Senior Special Assistant to FCT Minister, on Monitoring, Inspection, and Enforcement, Ikharo Attah, noted that what the FCTA did was to evacuate the beggars from the streets and take them to a safe place, profile and ensure their safety while they are being well catered for before their subsequently repatriated.

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Attah said: “During the month of Ramadan where most Muslim brothers and sisters are devoting themselves to the service of Almighty Allah, we saw excessive beggars who from across the country flooding into FCT so we had to move them off the streets, sensitive areas where they gather in large numbers to beg for alms, and in the process, they disturb people, and the complaints came in, and we moved in and cleared them in a friendly manner that most of them are even very happy about.