By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

In his continued effort to sanitize Anambra State and make it Number One State East of the Niger, the Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has raised a team to rid the state capital, Awka, of road side beggars and underage road hawkers.

The enforcement team, led by the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Ify Obinabo, in collaboration with the Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra (OCHA) Brigade, on Wednesday visited the popular Aroma Junction where beggars usually sit in line under the fly over bridge, Unizik Junction, Amawbia Flyover and Eke Awka Market.

Other places visited include Zik’s Avenue; Arthur Eze Avenue, among other places, where they arrested no fewer than thirty beggars and underage hawkers.

Also taken off the streets during the exercise were underage hawkers selling sachet water, drinks and other goods along the various streets and markets around the Awka metropolis.

Recall that the past state governments of Peter Obi and Willie Obiano had, during their administration, made efforts to rid the state capital of street beggars and hawkers but the exercise lasted only for a bit and collapsed as they returned double-fold.

Meanwhile, the beggars who were picked from different locations were taken to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women Development, Awka, where they are currently under the custody of the Commissioner.

Efforts to reach the Commissioner to know the next plan of action andwhat the State Government plans to do with the rescued persons failed.

But a source from the Ministry, who pleaded anonymity, said the rescued beggars and hawkers were taken to the Ministry for the purpose of proper documentation, rehabilitation and reintegration.

The source added that the Commissioner would sustain and replicate the initiative in other parts of the State till Anambra streets and markets were rid of beggars and underage hawkers.

He said the effort will help reduce the increasing number of out-of-school children and beggars in the state, while also helping in the actualization of Soludo’s vision to make Anambra a clean, healthy, green, livable and prosperous homeland in every sense of it.