When a beggar is mentioned anywhere in Nigeria, what typically comes to mind is the picture of a destitute person in tattered clothes looking hungry, dirty and disheveled.
The face of begging in Abuja has however changed. The average beggar now looks better than you. They can give you a run for your money with the kind of outfits they wear.
Welcome to the world of Abuja’s corporate.
They do not hang around street corners, junctions or run after cars in traffic like the usual beggars. Their modus operandi is strategic, to enable them get the kind of ‘clients’ they are out for.
These ones are found in shopping malls, around ATM machines, big supermarkets and highbrow restaurants.
Noor Mahmoud, a regular diner at Jevinik Restaurant, Abuja shared his experience with corporate beggars at the popular restaurant with 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE.
“The restaurant is known to serve large portions of meals and most of the time I eat there, I barely eat half of the food. I was having pounded yam and soup that day and soon after my food was served and I started eating, a neatly dressed lady came by, pulled a seat and casually joined me at the table. While I ate, she was on her phone and seemed not to care about goings on around her.
“When I had my fill and was about to wash my hand, she spoke. ‘Please let me eat your leftover, Sir.’ I thought I didn’t hear her and asked her to repeat herself which she did and before I could say any other thing, she had already moved the plate towards her and was eating the food.”
He said he was shocked but didn’t ask any question because such discussions often “lead to emotional blackmail.”
When 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE visited Jevinik restaurant, a waiter name withheld confirmed that they have such people come around the restaurant and they pose as customers.
“We only hear of their conduct from people they have harassed. Some of our customers even complained that they were begged for money,” he said.
Another resident of Abuja, Maryam Hamisu, said she was cornered in Shoprite and Game Supermarket at different times.
“These beggars hang around lonely or quiet aisles and approach shoppers bearing empty carts. They tell stories of family woes, how they cannot feed or have family problems to solve etc.”
A sales rep at one of the Shoprite stores who preferred anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak on the matter, confirmed that some people come to beg in the supermarket.
He said some of the women who do this target white men.
“They hold empty carts on lonely aisles and approach our customers, talking to them in hushed tones. Several complaints have reached us, and I believe this can cause us to lose customers.”
ATM points are another favourite spot of the corporate beggars. The alms seekers wait for customers to withdraw money and then come up to them with pity stories.
Narrating his encounter, Shuaibu Haruna said he went to withdraw money from the ATM and a lady standing idly by the machine quickly made way for him and while he was carrying out his transaction, she requested that he helps her to withdraw money using her card as she had tried severally without success and she needed money for transportation and had also not eaten for two days.
“I took the card from her and noticed the whitewashed card had an expiry date of 2018. I just passed it back and gave her N500 from the N10,000 I withdrew that day. In another encounter, a lady standing by a taxi claimed her card had been withheld by the machine while attempting to withdraw money to pay the taxi driver who was ready to embarrass her.
“These urban beggars come out in their Sunday best to guilt trip people by deploying all sorts of psychological blackmail,” Haruna said.
