The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has announced the removal of 607 beggars and mentally challenged individuals from the streets of Abuja, describing the action as part of an ongoing effort to safeguard security, enhance public order and restore the nation’s capital’s aesthetic appeal. The figures represent the total number of evacuees from July 2025 to January 2026, according to officials involved in the enforcement exercise.
Ukachi Adebayo, Head of Enforcement at the FCT Social Development Secretariat (SDS), disclosed the numbers on Monday during a press briefing in Abuja. She said the removal operations have been carried out by the Operation Sweep Abuja Clean team — a task force established to tackle street begging, miscreants, scavengers and other social vices in the city.
Out of the 607 persons taken off the streets, Adebayo noted that 583 were beggars while 23 were individuals identified as mentally challenged, with the remainder comprising other vulnerable persons grouped under similar categories. She explained that the exercise goes beyond mere removal, with apprehended individuals being counselled, profiled and subsequently returned to their home states for rehabilitation through state government liaison offices.
“When we apprehend the beggars and mentally challenged individuals, they are counselled so as to profile them. After that, we take them to their respective liaison offices to be returned to their states where they are expected to undergo rehabilitation,” Adebayo said, emphasising the collaborative nature of the initiative between the FCTA and other state authorities.
Adebayo also admitted that a recurring challenge of the exercise is the resurgence of individuals who return to Abuja’s streets shortly after removal. “The more you take them out, the more they resurface. Some of them were driven by insecurity in their states and ran to Abuja to take refuge, but we will continue to apprehend them and take them back,” she added.
Officials argue that beyond public order concerns, street begging and the presence of vulnerable persons on urban pathways pose security risks. Peter Olumuji, Secretary of the FCTA Command and Control Centre, said the Operation Sweep was instituted by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to rid the capital of not only beggars but other criminal elements that could exploit visible vulnerabilities for illicit activities.
According to Olumuji, some beggars reportedly serve as informants to criminals, while others may be susceptible to kidnapping, ritual attacks and other forms of exploitation. He added that the visible presence of beggars and other miscreants was defacing the city and undermining Abuja’s image as Nigeria’s capital. “Not only that, the beggars and mentally challenged individuals also deface the beauty of the capital city, while some of them become victims of kidnapping for rituals and other negative purposes,” he said.
Acting Director of Social Welfare at the SDS, Gloria Onwuka, raised additional concerns about the exploitation of children on the streets of Abuja. She revealed that some children seen begging were brought from other states by unidentified individuals — and in certain cases, the women accompanying them were not their biological mothers. “Begging is now run like a business. People will hire children from other states, bring them to Abuja early in the morning and start begging,” Onwuka said, highlighting the depth of the social challenge.
The initiative forms part of a broader set of security and public safety operations introduced by the FCTA under the Operation Sweep Joint Task Force, which includes various enforcement agencies and FCT departments. The operation seeks not just to remove visible social ills, but also to support law enforcement in addressing associated activities such as scavenging, “one-chance syndicates” and other unlawful conduct in the territory.
Minister Wike first declared a crackdown on street beggars in October 2024, warning that Abuja was at risk of becoming “a beggar’s city” — an image he said would tarnish the capital’s reputation and jeopardise public safety. Since then, the FCTA’s enforcement teams have pursued a sustained campaign to reduce the numbers of street beggars and reposition the city’s public spaces.
While the FCTA’s intervention has drawn support from some residents who champion cleaner and safer streets, critics argue that there must be stronger, long-term welfare interventions to address the socio-economic conditions that push vulnerable persons into begging and street life. Nonetheless, the authorities have reiterated that the operation is ongoing and will continue to tackle beggars, miscreants and other criminal elements whenever they resurface.
As the exercise progresses, stakeholders have emphasised the need for a balanced approach that pairs enforcement with rehabilitation, community support and systemic social intervention to genuinely address street begging and protect the dignity of vulnerable populations within Abuja’s growing urban environment.
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