Nigerian Beggars Flood Mecca

The issue of the beggars was brought to fore by Abdur-Rahman Balogun, media aide to Mrs. Abika Dabiri-Erewa, Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora Matters.

Balogun in a facebook post on his page said the beggars mainly female who were found begging for alms in the Holy City became abusive when they noticed him taking their pictures.

“They covered their faces when they saw me taking their pics. They even went wild saying “uwanka” to me, throwing their slippers at me. It is a shame indeed! They do arrest them from time to time,” Balogun wrote.

Others who contributed on the post gave their unpleasant experiences with most querying how the beggars got to Saudi.

Rafat Idris Salami posted: “I was insulted and nearly lynched 2yrs ago by children when I questioned why I should give them anything and why their parents would throw them in the streets. Those parents are not far from where the children are. I am told that are children of illegal immigrants and they come out mostly during Hajj. If street begging were an Islamic culture you would have seen other nationalities but the beggars I saw were mostly Nigerians.”

Also, Tanko Dada said that Balogun “you were lucky that their parents did not mob you, the sad thing about this anti-Islamic act is that they sometimes fold the arms or legs of the child to give an impression that they have lost their limbs or hands.

“They also features some half cast children which attracts attention of Arabs and Asians.

“Although some other national are involved but they operate along the tunnels entrance. It is big business for the illegal Nigerians, who hid in the mountains and come down during Hajj to carry out their shameful act, they have eluded the efforts by the Nigerian and Saudi Arabian authorities to deport them as those deported, find their way back to the country.”

Soladoye Adewole added a new twist to the post when he stressed: “Can we blame them? Even at home In Nigeria our pensioners beg government to pay them without succor from any quarter. Workers also beg because they are not paid and they don’t want to die. I guess begging for alms is not as disgraceful as stealing or dealing in hard drugs. The question is what are we doing with our enormous wealth to better the lot of NIGERIANS?”