Hard times await street beggars and urchins in Lagos following plan by the Lagos government to criminalise their activities, with proposed sanctions, including fines of up to N200,000 and imprisonment of up to two years.

A bill to the effect is presently before the Lagos State House of Assembly and it is expected to be passed into law.

The proposed legislation, however, combines the planned crackdown with rehabilitation and welfare programmes aimed at addressing the social and economic conditions that drive people, particularly children and vulnerable youths, to the streets.

The bill, titled the Street Begging and Street Urchins (Prohibition, Prevention and Rehabilitation) Law of Lagos State 2026, was presented to legal practitioners, civil society organisations and members of the public at a public hearing held on Tuesday at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja.

The public hearing, chaired by the chairman of the House Committee on Youth, Sports and Social Development, Abiodun Orekoya, is part of the legislative process before the bill proceeds to further consideration by the House.

The proposed law seeks to prohibit street begging and activities associated with street urchins in public places, including motor parks, traffic intersections, pedestrian bridges and open markets.

Orekoya said the legislation was designed to promote public order, safety and environmental sanitation, while also strengthening child protection measures.

Under the proposed law, activities such as loitering, sleeping, assembling or erecting temporary structures for the purpose of begging would constitute offences.

People who engage in, procure, aid or abet begging would also be liable to prosecution.

The bill specifically targets parents and guardians who send children onto the streets to solicit alms, with such actions potentially attracting prosecution under the proposed law and existing child-rights legislation.

The proposed sanctions are structured in three stages.

A first-time offender may receive a formal warning and be referred to a state-run rehabilitation centre. A subsequent violation could attract a fine of up to N200,000, a non-custodial sentence of not more than three months, or both.

For more serious or repeated offences, the bill proposes imprisonment of up to two years upon conviction by a Lagos State High Court or Magistrate Court.

The legislation also proposes giving the Environmental Sanitation Corps Agency broad enforcement powers, including the arrest of suspected offenders without a warrant and the seizure of property connected to the alleged offence.

Enforcement officers would be required to profile those arrested before transferring them to the Nigeria Police Force or appropriate local neighbourhood security units.

However, the proposed enforcement powers have raised concerns among some participants at the hearing, particularly over the possibility of arbitrary arrests and the treatment of vulnerable people during enforcement operations.

The bill attempts to address such concerns by expressly prohibiting enforcement officers from subjecting detainees to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, or unlawful detention, in line with the fundamental rights provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.

Beyond enforcement, the proposed legislation places emphasis on rehabilitation.

It mandates the Ministry of Youth and Social Development to establish dedicated Rehabilitation and Welfare Centres where people removed from the streets would receive temporary accommodation, basic literacy education, psychological counselling and vocational and life-skills training.

The stated objective is to help beneficiaries acquire skills and support needed for eventual reintegration into society rather than simply removing them from public spaces.

At the public hearing, however, human rights advocates and legal scholars urged caution, particularly regarding warrantless arrests and the broad enforcement powers proposed under the bill.

They also raised questions about how the legislation would balance the need to regulate public spaces with the rights and dignity of people living in vulnerable circumstances.

Deputy Speaker of the House, Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, said the views gathered from members of the public and stakeholders would be considered before the bill is finalised.

She said the feedback would help shape the legislation before it proceeds to third reading and, if passed by the Assembly, is presented to the Lagos State Governor for assent.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared the eradication of child labour a national development priority, saying the menace threatens education, poverty reduction, economic growth, food security, human capital development and national security.

The President stated this on Wednesday in Abuja at the National Dialogue on the implementation of Nigeria’s National Child Labour Policy and National Action Plan, 2026–2030. He also launched the 2024 National Child Labour Survey Report.

Tinubu, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, said the Federal Government would intensify efforts to address the conditions forcing children into exploitative labour.

“Every nation is judged by how well it protects its children. A child who is forced into labour instead of attending school loses more than an education. That child loses opportunities, confidence, health and the chance to fully contribute to national development,” he said.

“For this reason, the Federal Government considers the elimination of child labour not merely as a labour issue, but as a national development priority. It is linked to education, social protection, economic growth, poverty reduction, food security, human capital development and national security.”

He identified education as a major safeguard against child labour, noting that his administration was pursuing reforms addressing out-of-school children, education data, teacher development and skills acquisition.

Tinubu also said the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme would support school attendance while reducing hunger among children from vulnerable households.

He added that social protection initiatives, including the NG-CARES Additional Financing Programme and the Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity Programme, were being implemented to improve household resilience and help parents earn decent livelihoods.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the federal government to urgently approve emergency palliatives and wage awards to workers nationwide, declaring that
nothing is wrong with the government subsidising the needs of citizens.

The Congress called on the government to introduce measures to cushion the impact of the rising price of petrol and ensure immediate sale of crude oil to local refineries in naira.

Checks showed that petrol now sells for about N1,430 per litre in major cities, with prices reportedly higher in less accessible locations.

President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, in a statement on Wednesday, warned that the rising cost of petrol would further worsen the economic hardship facing Nigerians.

The labour leader noted that increases in transportation costs typically trigger higher prices of food, rent, school fees and other essential goods and services across the country.

Ajaero maintained that the latest increase came at a time when government pressure on oil marketers to reduce pump prices in response to lower international crude prices was beginning to produce results.

“As a nation, and as a people endowed with enormous fossil resources, we are deserving of a certain level of protection or buffer against the gales from the Gulf, and indeed, other gales,” he said.

Ajaero argued that Nigeria’s status as an oil-producing country means it should be able to provide some protection against international oil market shocks regarding the latest surge that has been linked to the resurgence of conflict in the Gulf.

The NLC President urged the federal government to immediately introduce measures to shield households and businesses from the impact of the higher fuel prices.

“There is nothing wrong with the government subsidising the needs of citizens, especially in emergencies like this,” Ajaero argued.

He added that oil-producing countries were introducing different forms of intervention or palliatives to protect their citizens from the effects of the current global energy crisis.