Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5 , 2012 -19
Omoh Gabriel
Financialvanguam t IS a known fact that cities across the world are confronted with diverse and complex problems whIch bave socio-economic
I
and physical implicalton!'> (or
city dwellers. These problems as experienced by cities of less developed cQuntnes, are enormous
and
mulltdImensional in nature. One obvious marufestation of
these problems, especially In Nigeria. IS begging, thai is the act of asking people for money, food. clothes. The problem of beggm9 IS a social menace which has II negative implication not only for economies of the tilles, sociophysical environment but also for beggars themselves. Thp
increasing population of beggar5 in Nigerian citIes
constitutes all eyesore or envuorunentaJ nuisance and
health hazards, particularly those canymg Infectious and contagioU5 rusease.... Begging has senous implicatIOn for thecity and national economy a.... beggars are nol econonllcally productive in any way since they contribute nolblng to the economy. It leads not only to §Odai relegation of the dty but also to that of beggars as well as stigmatization. Beggars constitute a social threat to the Nigenan sOCiety espeCIally In the oties, They portray a bad image to outsiders or strangers. Some cruninals lud under the guise of beggars to perpetuate their evil deeds. They are at times used as instruments by mischief makers, who use them to vandalize public properties and utilibes built wilh natioo's resources . The nefarious
activities of those fake beggars such as criminals, area boysR and thugs constitute one of the sources of civil unrest to the city dwellers . Begging also constitutes economic threat to the society as beggars are not economically productive in any way since Uley contribute noUung to naUonal economy The city and national economy is retarded as considerable proportion of beggar's population Another set of beggars are the perpetually sick one5 ; these ones always suffer from diseases, like cancerous growths on v15lble parts of then bodies, which they wear like a badge or honour There's an old man who begs for money because he had elephantiasis He 15 seen around quite a lot and many are feeling if he has gone to a hospilalto have his swollen leg seen to . He drags It around like luggage and the sheer size of it intimidates people tnto giving 'lIm money. At most strategic roads, many with some fonn of d15eases are carned and put at the center of the road with men and women WIth bows in lhelT hands sotiClung for help They are controlled by godfathers who are entitled to a 'cut' of their money 10 return for 'protection' . The godfathers ate also responsible fOf costuming i.e. fake wounds on appropriate parts of your body; fOf the lame, wheeJcham, wheelbarrows or skateboards; for the bhnd, a child to lead you lIround and collect the dllY's
BROKEN LINKS Gabomoh@yahoo.co,uk
Texl only -08053068790
Begging fast becoming a way of life in Nigeria ,
'Corporate Beggars'are
actually more ofpickpockets
andconmen than beggars; the most unfortunate of this category of beggars are those WIIO pose as ministers 01 the Gospel to beg
,
earnings; and for young women. malnounshed looking Most worrisome i.s the fact that Public service in Nigeria is being debased on dally basis. Today each office you go into either at the federal. slllte or local government level, there are Nigenans who indulge in one form of begging and the other. It is fast becoming an embarrassment across the country when on approaching
a supposed secunty officer, he politely ask what hllve for the boys, or your boys are here It is either they are poorly paid or they are nol liatlsfied with whl'lt they dre doing At the nalion 's gate way, either at the lIlrport or sea ports many of the unmlgrauon oUicers hold onto traveler 'S passport ask.lng for a gift before checkIng them out or in which ever IS applicable. A situation like th15 can nol bnng the best alit 01 these men on unllorm or In sensitive POSition in the country Every office you enter in the country today, someone somewhere will expect YOll 10 perform before you leave and if you fail to, they will boldly ask, 'Ogah what do you bave for the boys?' At the lIirport, Murtala Mohammed International Airport 10 particular, both Nigerians and foreigners complain of the unethical behaviour of most men of Immigration, Police and other agenCIes at the front desk. They do not care about the image of the country not to talk of their own . Usually,
caution 15 thrown to thp WlnU Sadly enough, those in authority do not carf> nor lake notice of this dÂŁ'vc1opment At most roadJlmctloll!; ilCTOSS the country where you have policemen as well as other agenCies on duty, some ate more mterested In begging 'Corporate Beggars ' aTe actually more of pickpockets and conmen than beggars The most unfortunate of tins category of beggars aTe lhose who pose as ministers of the Gospel to beg . They tell you tall,'!: of how they Me- gOing for a church programme bul have no money to go One notonous one tn Fe!,tacl Satellite goes around with his wife and baby begging motorists for money, Oashlng fake pastoral identity card While an average person tlunks In terms of dlgmty and the JOY that comes from creating something which has the potenllal to change someone else's life, professionlll beggars think in terms of Naira and Kobo . Can the Nigerilln nation continue like this?
Cover Sto Probe activities of banks, registrars, shareholders urge SEC, CBN Continued from page 18
campa.igns on tbe policy Electronic dividend payment is the process 01 crediting shllreholders' accounts Within 24 hours arter II company pays dividends. II was launched by SEC in February 2008, It is a good policy because it will help wipe lIway some of the malpractice we have WItnessed using manual system . R He said that e-dividend, If implemented, Will lIlso reduce the incidence of unclaimed dividends to the barest minimum In hu words ; ~SEC also failed to meet company registrars, service providers and banks on problems being encountered in remitting dividends . Many shareholders are not interested In the e-dlvidend
policy due to some banks' insistence on current lIccounls for e-dividend payment. So I advised SEC to liaise with the CBN to ensure that 8011 blinks, both quoted and unquoted, accept both sllvlngs and current accounts for edividend payment." AlhllJi Gbadebo Olato\tunbo, President, Nigeria Shareholders Solidanty Assoclalion (NSSA), in his own view said; "The country's poor postal system contributed to the problem of unclaimed dividend." Conlinuing, he SlIid , "However, the CAMA 1990 IS long overdue for amendment. There is no how we can implement full dematerialislItion in the capital market because the CAMA still gIVes investors
power to have phystcal share certificate. The uncooperative attitude of some banks on payment of dividends Inlo savings accounts made some investors to shun the policy. We are doing our best in educating mvestors on the bene(jts of the policy, The problem at the moment is that investors with small dtvidends are being discouraged from
subscribing to the poltcydue to insistence of banks on payment into current accounts. R Meanwhile, efforts to speak to some of the banks failed as most of the spokespersons refused to comment However, one of the banks' spoke5persons who preferred to remaui anonymous said;
"Why the banks are not accephng diVidend into savings account 15 that during clearing, the banks pay COT So if the regulators want the banks to accept dividend warrants into savings account then issue of COT should be eliminated dUring clearing and there should be a directive Irom our regulator, CBN~
Farmers seek FG's protection against fish importation r-r'lie Catfish Farmers .1 Association of Nigeria (CAFAN) has appealed to the Federal Government to protect local fish farmers against dumping of foreign fishes lfl Nigerian markel . Chief Tayo AkJngbolagun, the president of the
association made the appeal during the opening of the Oyo State CAFAN 2012 ClItfish Fair in Tbadan . He said thai the protection became necessary to enable the farmers attain the target of one million tonnes of fish production in Ihe next five
years According to him, the target is set under the Federal Governmenl's Aqua-culture Value Chain Development programme , Aklngbolagun said thilt dumping of foreign hsh in Nigerill was one of the greatest challenges facing the local fishing industr't'