musings ;That old beggar

  My experience on my way to work this morning goes thus;
 I was sitted in a tricycle (popularly called keke in Nigeria) waiting for the light to turn green at an intersection. Then I saw heavily built men alight from a bus, they were walking so fast going towards the rear of the tricycle I was sitted in. At that point I was wondering what law enforcement agents were these(I have never come across them before) and what atrocity was committed by who ever they needed to apprehend. while I was still pondering  I saw these men bundle an aged man who wasn't actually deformed from my point of view but apparently he was a beggar on the streets into their bus and they drove away just as the traffic light turned green. That was when the other passenger mentioned in passing that these beggars have being banned by the state government from loitering the streets but they never listen. 

  This whole scenario got me thinking and asking questions , doesn't this old man have children?, Is it that he enjoys begging? , Is it that probably he is an aged farmer who can't till the soil anymore and who isn't on any pension scheme and has to beg as a source of livelihood?,or is it that he realized it's kind of lucrative getting money from motorists based on pity?.

  Well these are many questions that I would never get answers to as regards this man in question but I can discuss what I feel is the root cause of this problem.

 1): that close knit family structure that our forefathers enjoyed is no more and the young ones have all left for the cities to fend for a living, working 9a.m to 5p.m jobs that hardly gives them time to take care of themselves let a lone the aged.

2).most of these people are not pensionable because probably they never worked in the civil service and those who even worked in the civil service are having problems accessing their pensions.

3) there are no institutions put in place that can adequately cater to the aged in our society. mind you some of these old ones may even be suffering from dementia and alzheimers hence the wandering

4) The economy is so harsh that people are yet to afford 3 balanced diet a day and funds to access good health care not to talk of enrolling their aged ones in an old people's home for proper care(honestly I don't know if we have a fully functional one in Nigeria).

The 4 points above a but a few I'm sure you readers would have other reasons you think is the cause of this..

To handle this misnomer,
I wish we don't have to go so far from home in search of sources of livelihood
I wish the youths are employed and earning reasonably well,
I wish the naira has alot of value,
I wish we have love in our hearts to actually cater for and really love those who spent their working years trying to ensure we are who we are today.

I know wishes do come true and I believe some day these will..

Your contribution would be most appreciated..