According to the Commissioner, the case was brought before Yaba Magistrate Court 5, where she was sentenced to two months in prison without the option of a fine.
The Lagos State Magistrate Court 5 sitting in Yaba has convicted and sentenced a female beggar to two months imprisonment for using babies to beg within the state metropolis.
Olusegun Dawodu, the Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, announced this in Lagos while reiterating the ban on street begging and the use of babies and children for alms on Lagos streets.
He stated that the ban was still in effect, and that anyone caught breaking the law would face consequences.
According to Dawodu, the woman was arrested in the Herbert Macaulay area of Ebute-Metta for the habit of using different babies for alms taking, PM News reports.
According to the Commissioner, the case was brought before Yaba Magistrate Court 5, where she was sentenced to two months in prison without the option of a fine.
He went on to say that the children would be taken to the juvenile Welfare Centre for two months of placement through the Ministry of Youth and Social Development.
Dawodu bemoaned the increasing use of babies and children to beg for alms in various parts of the state, claiming that the practice was unfit for the state's status and would not be tolerated.
He said, “This act is not only an indication of child abuse but it is a clear violation of fundamental rights of our children as enshrined in Lagos State Child Rights Law 2015 which the State Government will continue to implement to the letter.”
Despite the previous and current Lagos State administrations' efforts to discourage and rid the state of the growing number of beggars on the streets, the situation appears hopeless.
When the state government cracked down on them out of frustration, the mendicants disappeared for a while, only to reappear in greater numbers once the heat was reduced.
Aside from the fact that they appear to be in every nook and cranny of the metropolis, many of them harass residents while begging for alms, which some Lagosians find irritating.