Kwara State Government has evacuated 94 street beggars from Ilorin's thoroughfares as part of intensified security measures, confirming those detained will face prosecution and repatriation following profiling.

The operation, coordinated by Social Development Commissioner Dr Mariam Nnafatima Imam and supported by the Governor's Special Assistant on Drug Abuse Prevention Mikail Aileru, targeted hotspots including Geri Alimi, Tanke Junction, Offa Garage, Tipper Garage, and Zango. Authorities allege some beggars' shelters have been co-opted by criminal networks for illicit activities a factor linked to recent insecurity spikes.

Commissioner Imam stated: "Kwara State prohibits street begging. This is our third repatriation exercise, reinforcing our zero-tolerance stance. All detainees will be prosecuted, profiled, and returned to their states of origin."

The evacuation aligns with ongoing efforts to dismantle urban crime enablers, with the National Correctional Service and ministry officials actively involved in the operation.

"We are actually repatriating and evacuating the streets beggars. The reason is that we've made a lot of jingles before now to sensitise the public and make sure that they are well informed that street begging is a no-no in Kwara State.

"And we've gone about two repatriations before now where we evacuated the streets beggars.

"Also, one thing we do is that we have the ministry magistrate where they are served sentence for one week or depending on the kind of punishment that is stipulated.

"For the children, we make sure that we take care of them till the period when the parents finish their terms of community service activities.

"We are in collaboration with the correctional centre and they've been doing a lovely job for us. We sincerely appreciate them.

"We sincerely appreciate the administration of Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for his effort to make sure that Kwara State is free of street begging and street hawking and other social menace that is around us," she said.

Imam said that the state government was always in touch with the state governments of the street beggars before they were returned to their respective states.

She admonished members of the public, who she said patronise the street beggars to desist, saying that, "You know, people want to give alms. So, if you want to give alms, there are better ways to give alms. Go to mosques or churches, go to the orphanage homes, go to centres where people truly need assistance. Stop patronising beggars.

"We want to urge the public to please refrain from patronising the beggars. It's a menace in the society."

Also speaking, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Drug Abuse, Prevention and Control Haliru Olamilekan Mikail said that most of the people that portray themselves as beggars peddle drugs.

He said, "This exercise is not just about street begging alone. It's about the security of our people. Some of the people are informants.

"These days, we talk about kidnapping and all that. They are not just there to beg for money.

"Do you know that some people brought them there to work for them? So this is why, as much as we are clamping down on street begging, we are making sure that our society is safe.

"We've done the advocacy on radio. There are a lot of information on radio and on the social media. It's a continuous process."

For his part, Head of Non-Custodian Unit, Nigeria Correctional Service Kwara State Command Mr Adebayo Okunola explained that the exercise is to clean the state of social menace while those arrested and tried by the appropriate court will be punished in line with the Correctional Act 2019.

"We have Correctional Act 2019 which empowered us that offences which are not criminal in nature are sentenced to non correctional service.

"The head of the Correctional Service Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche has mandated us to collaborate with the Kwara State Government to ensure that those arrested and tried by appropriate court are sentenced to non custodian unit. Then, we will ensure that they undergo punitive measures like sweeping gutters," Okunola added.