In what was termed as constituting an environmental nuisance and defacing the city, no fewer than 150 beggars were evacuated from major streets in Abuja by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA.
The Secretary, Development Secretariat, SDS, Hadiza Kabir disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
The statement said that the evacuation of the beggars among whom were mainly women and children, and old men were carried out by SDS officials in collaboration with some FCT agencies.
She said that after receiving several complaints about the menace, the agencies carried out the evacuation exercise as renewed efforts to rid the city of street begging, following complaints received about the menace.
She said that FCTA has targeted to evacuate between 400 and 1,000 beggars from the city following directives from the FCT Minister of State, Ramatu Aliyu, that SDS should ensure their removal from Abuja.
The FCTA secretary said that the administration would camp the evacuated beggars in some of its centers for proper documentation while the minister would liaise with states to return to their respective states.
