Even though the Borno State government banned street begging in 2019, there are now many more beggars – men, women and children – than ever on the streets of Maiduguri.

With only a few jobs available and with the prices of all commodities skyrocketing, including food, many of the people in the city are unemployed and unable to put food on the table.

The most vulnerable are internally displaced persons (IDPs). Since the start of the insurgency in 2009, there has been an influx of thousands of displaced people into Borno State’s capital, Maiduguri.

All the state-run IDP camps were shut down by the government at the end of last year. Many of the people in the camps were returned and resettled in their ancestral communities. But a lot people were not able to return and stayed in the city and its suburbs in non-state-run IDP camps or with host communities.

Although some male IDPs have found piecework at times – on construction sites and other labour-intensive projects – these jobs do not last long and most people cannot find permanent employment. Some women and girls go to wealthy people’s homes to do domestic work. But, again, these jobs are mostly not permanent and the wages are poor.

Some women and girls have even resorted, or have been forced, to provide sex for money.

But the majority of people spend their days begging for money just so that they can eat. Even young children beg on the streets.

International and local non-government organisations used to provide food and essential items for vulnerable people but this has mostly stopped and they have been forced by circumstances to fend for themselves.

RNI reporter Ummi Fatima Baba Kyari spoke to women in the city, most of whom said they no longer received any humanitarian aid and their only option was to beg on the streets.

Ya Maida Mustapha, an IDP originally from Bulabulin Ngabranam but now in Sabon Gari in Maiduguri, said: “I don’t live in any IDP camp, I live in a community. I have no work and I do not have anyone to help or support me. I have to depend on begging – it’s the only thing that keeps me alive.

“When I go round the town begging, I sometimes I get ₦20 to ₦30. But sometimes I get nothing and I have to go back home empty-handed.”

Mustapha said she used to sell groundnuts but now she had no capital and her business had collapsed.

Saratu Lawan, an IDP originally from Dalwa but now living in Sulumri in Maiduguri, said: “I live with people on a field that a rich man gave us. He allows us to live on the land for free.

“We used to receive humanitarian aid as IDPs but we no longer get that help. I don’t receive any humanitarian aid even though that is what we depended on. Now we have to go out on the streets to beg. It is like that for most of the IDP women. All we can do is go to town to beg and hope that some kind person will take pity on us and give us food or money.

“Often in the rainy season we go to clear people’s farmlands. If we are lucky we get paid, but sometimes we do not even get that. So, we just have to continue begging.

“Right now, we do not receive any help from any organisation. So, I beg. For example, I have been out since early morning but I have only got ₦70. But it is better than nothing. I have no alternative. All I can do is beg.”

Yamina Usman, also an IDP, said: “I came from Konduga to Maiduguri. I now live in Moduganari. We receive no help and that is why I spend every day begging for money and in search of something to eat.

“Today we passed a funeral house and we entered. Food was being served and they gave us some too – and two biscuits. That is all we have received since early this morning.

“Sometimes, when someone gives us money, we distribute among ourselves. There was a time when a governor’s brother gave each of us ₦2,000. That is the highest amount I have ever been given.

“All of us here depend on begging to buy food. But most of us don’t always get enough so we have to go hungry and hope that the next day will be better for us. That’s all we have. That is what our lives are like. Most of us are hungry all the time. We live in hope that things will get better but deep down we know this is how it will stay.”

AISHA SD JAMAL