The Delta State government has given reasons for evacuating over a dozen homeless children, including a 19-year-old mother and her three-month-old baby from the streets.
Ministry officials lamented that the state capital has been experiencing an influx of people from neighboring and far states, who besiege the streets to beg for alms, while some have been reported to be involved in criminal activities.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Community and Social Development, Mrs Pat Ajudua, after a raid on strategic locations in Asaba and the environs, disclosed that the exercise was aimed at taking children off the streets, where they would be profiled before they are reunited with their parents or caregivers.
“They constitute nuisance and as the days go by, they end up becoming criminals that will pose security risks to the state.
“Delta State does not encourage street hawking; we don’t encourage little children, or even women sleeping under the bridge” she disclosed.
A fatherless twin Clinton and Henry, who were caught alongside other children loitering in the early hours of the day were apprehended.
Decrying his arrest, Somto Ifekanma, stated he was a sachet water vendor, who had spent the night on the streets, because he could not secure an accommodation.
“You won’t see me in Summit (Junction) again. It was because of what happened last night that I went there.”
Similarly, 19-year-old Regina Albert from Onitsha, Anambra State, who alleged she had cancer, had taken her baby to the popular Summit Junction in Asaba, in the early hours of the morning to seek alms, before they were evacuated by officials of the ministry.
“I sat down begging to secure the needed fund to have an operation, when the officials came and arrested me.”