SOCIO – ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSIONS OF STREET BEGGING IN AKURE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This research work investigates the incidence of street begging in Akure with the view of proposing strategies for rehabilitation of beggars within the study area. It examines the environmental and socio-economic effects of begging in Akure urban scape, and the reasons for begging as the major objectives of the study. The scope of the study focused on Akure city where an extensive field survey was conducted on the incidence of street begging. The study made use of both primary and secondary data. The Primary data were collected through the administration of structured questionnaires. Two sets of questionnaires were administered. The first questionnaire focused on the street beggars and the second questionnaire focused on members of the public. Secondary data were obtained from institutions related to this research work. Purposive sampling technique was employed. Using multistage sampling technique, a total of two hundred and forty (240) street beggars were sampled, that is, 12.5% of the total (1,908 beggars) one week head counts of beggars in Akure city. At present using a growth rate of 3 percent, the city is estimated to have over 380,000 people with an average household size of seven. The total number of households 5,429 out of which one hundred and twenty (120) respondents, that is, one respondent per household were randomly sampled of their socio-cultural characteristics and perception of street begging. Data obtained from the questionnaires were processed and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient and Pearson`s Moment Correlation measures were employed to test the research hypotheses. The research findings were presented in form of tables, percentages, maps and charts as appropriate. The findings of this research reveal that (60.8%) of the sampled beggars were males as against (39.2%) females. Household size of the street beggars revealed that the largest proportion (40.4%) had household size of between 4 - 6, (36.7%) had 7 - 9 household members, (17.9%) of them had household size of 1 – 3 members while (05. 8%) had household members of 10 and above. Ethnicity of beggars in Akure city shows that the majority of the beggars sampled were Hausa (73.7%) of northern origin. The Yoruba (23.8%) of the total sampled beggars came from within and towns around Akure. Factors of begging reflect that a large population of beggars in Akure took to street begging as a result of poverty and this accounts for almost half the total sampled population, that is, (49.6%). The next factor in order of magnitude is physical disability (32.9%), those that attributed their factor to cultural beliefs (10.4%), and religious inclination (07.1%). The effects of begging on the surroundings within the study area show that (45.8 %) of the respondents attributed the effect of begging on the surrounding to rowdiness and (37.5 %), of the respondents ascribed to dirtiness, that is, littering of the surroundings. The study also discovered that (55.0%) of the respondents agreed that the effect of street begging on the landscape is moderate, little (23.3%) and very little (12.5%), just to mention a few among the research findings. The research work recommends the building of rehabilitation centres in the study area, social welfare for poor beggars, evacuation of beggars from the streets, sustainable landscaping, poverty alleviation programme and physical planning strategies among others.