‘One-chance’, child rentals: Abuja street begging rings exposed, 210 arrested

By Ukpono Ukpong

A major operation by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has led to the arrest of 210 street beggars allegedly involved in a network of criminal activities in Abuja.

The arrests are part of an intensified effort to rid the city of security threats disguised as humanitarian cases.

The apprehended individuals, comprising 58 women, 72 children, and 80 men, were taken to the Vocational and Rehabilitation Centre in Bwari as authorities continue the ‘Operation Sweep Abuja Clean’ campaign.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, the acting Director of the Social welfare department, in the Social Development Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Gloria Onwuka, said many of the suspects have been linked to organized begging rings that exploit children and stage fake illnesses to defraud unsuspecting residents.

The crackdown follows heightened concerns over the surge in petty crimes and coordinated scams in the city, often tied to roaming beggars and street dwellers.

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The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had directed security and social welfare departments to intensify enforcement and remove such threats from public spaces.

Onwuka told journalists that preliminary findings revealed disturbing practices, including the rental of children for begging purposes and fabricated health conditions used to lure sympathy and financial donations from the public. She said in some instances, the beggars are transported into the city from other states early in the day and vanish at night to avoid detection.

While the FCT Administration have described the development as a disturbing trend that poses serious security implications, the acting Director, cited previous arrests of suspects found with weapons, ATM cards, and point-of-sale devices, elements often associated with the notorious “one-chance” robbery syndicates operating in the capital.

“Every day you receive complaints about one thing or the other. One -chance, kidnapping, all manner of evil things in FCT. So the minister directed us to do away with all those things.

“Most of the beggars go even to the extent of hiring people’s children to come on the road and be begging. And there are families where they are hiring these children, we don’t even know that this is what they are using their children to do.

“They have taken it as a business. They will now go and hire people from other states, put them in vehicle, very early in the morning, they will come in Abuja and start begging. By evening or in the nighttime, they will disappear.

“There is a woman we caught, she now said that she has cancer at the breast.
So by the time they loosen the bandage, there was no single wound at her breast.

“The one chance issue, there is one that our officers, our people, picked at night by 2am. He was carrying a machete with POS and different bank ATMs . The time they pick anybody, they will now ask you, which one is your bank? They will give you the card of your own bank, you press,If you fail, they use that machete and do away with you.

“We have arrested 80 men since the commencement of the exercise, the women are 58 while the children are 72 in number. The exercise will continue untill Abuja streets are free of beggars”

On security, the Director FCTA Security Services Department, Adamu Gwary said those arrested were constituting degrees of crime in the territory.

Gwary represented by Peter Olumuji, said activities of the beggars was a threat to security of the residents.

He said, “We want to believe that most of the people arrested, they have constituted degrees of crime and other things in the nation’s capital.

“The security concern of most of these nuisances within the FCT have become a source of great worry to the residents. And the Minister has given that directive to the Commission of Police and all other relevant agencies to ensure that the FCT is rid of all these security threats” Gwary said.