Neatly-clad, Abuja’s ‘corporate beggars’ do it stylishly

These men and women do not look like some destitute, neither are they handicaps, but they have resorted to doing what the destitute and handicapped do to earn a living. The difference between them and the former is that they indulge in telling fake story and lies to make ends meet. In a bid to […]

These men and women do not look like some destitute, neither are they handicaps, but they have resorted to doing what the destitute and handicapped do to earn a living. The difference between them and the former is that they indulge in telling fake story and lies to make ends meet.

In a bid to bring first-hand experience to bear in this report, our reporter recorded a personal experience. It was an encounter with one of these Abuja corporate beggars who hangs around Wuse Zone 4 opposite Febson Mall. A young man approached this reporter last week. He was neatly-clad in black suit with a big brown office envelope in his hand, as if he just closed from work.

“Morning, sir. My name is Engineer Gabriel Ojo. I came from Lagos last night for an interview here in Abuja, but unfortunately, I got and am still stranded. I actually fell victim to criminal cab drivers, thus I lost my luggage, money inclusive. Please, I need your assistance in the name of God”.

That was the narration of so-called Engineer Gabriel. He did that delivery in sound, error-free English language. As if the encounters hadn’t finished, two days later, another young man excused this reporter, but this time, it was around the Federal Secretariat complex. His story lines were almost the same as Gabriel’s.

“Hello, sir. Please, don’t be offended, I just need your assistance. I was invited for an interview and the session was postponed. Meanwhile, my cousin whom I was counting on for some assistance travelled out of the country.”

He continued with his story, saying that he had to return to Calabar that same night as he could not afford a hotel accommodation in Abuja. In this man’s case, he was clad in a clean white shirt and a well-knotted tie. He told Weekly Trust that he actually came into Abuja in a flight, but wouldn’t mind joining the ABC Transport bus to return to Calabar. Also, like Gabriel, his diction, accent and language delivery were good. He sounded brilliant and confident.

These ‘corporate beggars’ have repackaged the art of begging; they don’t do it like the regular, everyday beggars, meaning that they don’t wear pitiful looks on their faces, don’t dress shabbily and they also don’t move in a group like the old-fashioned destitute and handicapped beggars. Their trend is to be well-dressed and communicate in good English.

Abuja seems to be a lucrative ground for them, as they position themselves at walkways, motor parks and highbrow malls where they solicit for financial assistance with the common theme of “being stranded”.

For Adamu John, a resident of Wuse II district in Abuja, “I have come across this set of beggars a lot of times. I want to believe that most people who really go out have one way or the other come across them. I think they are just a bunch of lazy people. For the ladies, I think they are street girls, since a decent lady would not engage in such cheap way of making money,” he said.

The difference  between this set of beggars and the traditional destitute is that traditional destitute use little kids to prick the conscience of unsuspecting almsgivers while the ‘corporate beggars’ use neat appearances/image to get attention, then give their usual stories.

The activities of these ‘corporate beggars’ are a thing of concern even to ‘legitimate’ beggars (destitute and handicaps), thus they raised alarm claiming that they are being short-changed by these able-bodied people who impersonate themselves as beggars. The ‘legitimate’ beggars termed the scenario as “the encroachment of unwanted elements into our activities. They are short-changing us”.

The ‘legitimate’ beggars comprising lepers, cripples, the blind, the deaf and dumb have resolved that they’ll lodge a formal complaint to the relevant authorities against those people bullying their way into their ‘occupation.’ They further revealed that if after complaining to the police and nothing is done, they would strategise on what next to do.

Malam Garba Saleh, a 50-year-old beggar in Area 1, Abuja told Weekly Trust that he cannot fathom why in recent years, there are more able-bodied people begging than the destitute and handicaps. He said their Association is working to address the issue.

“We know the activities of these able-bodied beggars. We refer to them as ‘Yan kisan raba’ (meaning healthy but lazy). Our National Secretary, Alhaji Muhammadu Danja, recently addressed us on the issue. These ‘yan kisan raba’ are nuisance not only to themselves, but to the almsgivers, the destitute/handicaps and the society in general, because some of them are actually criminals,” he said. He added that the best way to get them is for security agents to keep watch over them. “Whenever they are sighted begging or collecting alms, they should be apprehended and handed over to the police.”

“Corporate begging’ that has now been taken to the streets is not what it should be. At least, the corporate begging style should have been kept ‘indoors’. You may be wondering what I mean. Imagine the doorman in front of a classy restaurant or a hotel who opens the door or a security man in an organisation that shows clients where to park their vehicles, with a patronising smile and adds it up with a salute just to say ‘you are welcome’ when you thank him.

“This is a good example of ‘corporate begging’ which comes with a little effort that deserves at least some kind of nice returns. In this true style of corporate begging, an individual can be tipped without having to interrupt people, lie or tell some imaginary tales”. This was the view of Okechukwu Ossai, an Abuja-based banker.

Abel told Weekly Trust that there is one particular guy that is fond of stopping the same people to beg for assistance all the time. “He first stopped me in Wuse II and begged for assistance, which I rendered. And two weeks ago, he stopped me again around the Federal Secretariat without recognising me. I was eager to hear what he had to say. Then he started, ‘Ah! Don’t you remember me? You look like somebody I met in a vehicle to Lagos last month. Before I could utter a word, he continued… ‘Please, I lost my travelling bag and I need N2,000 to settle the cab driver. Can you spare me that? I would pay you back. Let me have your phone number’.

Abel said the guy was speaking with all the confidence one can think of.

While some people believe that these ‘corporate beggars’ are simply a bunch of lazy people, others believe that unemployment could be one of the reasons giving rise to the activities of these new-styled beggars. However, apart from unemployment, there are other factors identified. For instance, there’s the absence of articulate government welfare programme for the socially-disadvantaged in the society.

The government at all levels have failed and are yet to introduce sound social policy that would take care of the needs of some of the vulnerable population in the society. Closely-related to this is the weak state of the nation’s economy. Many people who cannot make a ‘decent’ living have taken to the streets of major towns and cities to beg for alms to enable them to keep body and soul together.