The growing menace of ‘corporate begging’

There is a growing trend in Nigeria: The number of people we encounter almost every day while travelling or commuting within the city which qualify as corporate beggars’ is increasing. They sometimes come in three piece suits and tell incredible tales of how their wallets were stolen, or how they need just a little extra to complete their transportation fares.

But that’s not all, some of them come as prayer warriors and pastors who after preaching would demand a little fund to move the ‘motor park ministry forward’…you get the drift?

As the economy continues to remain in recession, there are lot of them out there, both old and healthy youth who choose to be beggars rather than work for their keep. So I discussed with a couple of people to know their ideas or experience. Olayinka Oguntade shared hers with me.

Some months back, on her usual journey, she saw this handsome looking young man neatly dressed in shirt, trousers, well-polished shoes. He spoke eloquently, appealing to passengers in the vehicle to give him transport fare to meet up with his morning lectures scheduled for 9am at the Polytechnic of Yaba popularly known as (YABATECH). She saw the same young guy last month, this time his story changed from being a student on an unknown journey to Ekiti. “Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Akinwande, I need 2,500 naira to complete my transport fare to Ekiti, My mum is sick and need to take a bus urgently. God bless you all”. Some people gave him money, while some just ignored him. Olayinka used quickly calculated how much he collected from 10 passengers in the bus which of course was more than his transport allowance.

She felt he exploited innocent Nigerians, and he had also used his tricky words to collect their hard earned money. So one morning at the park, she spotted this ‘sophisticated beggar’, He cooked up another story that he was robbed at Oshodi bus stop, Olayinka braved up , asked him some questions, before she knew it, he ran away.

To fellow young graduates out there, you may not get your expected job or you may even get a job in your line of profession, whatever the scenario is, never be afraid to start from somewhere no matter how small, rather than living in deception and deceiving others too.

As the saying goes, “Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, and no procrastination… never put off till tomorrow what you can do today”

 

ODUSOLA ADEWALE