By Felicia Odom 17.9.2026
Beggars and street urchins popularly known as Area Boys will be sent to jail for two years or pay a fine of N200,000 if they are caught begging on the streets of Lagos. A bill prescribing the punishing has been tabled before the Lagos State House of Assembly
Legal practitioners, civil society organisations and members of the public had a preview of the bill, titled the Street Begging and Street Urchins (Prohibition, Prevention and Rehabilitation) Law of Lagos State 2026, at a public hearing held on Tuesday at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja.
The public hearing, the House Committee on Youth, Sports and Social Development chairman, Abiodun Orekoya presided over the session.
Under the proposed law, activities such as loitering, sleeping, assembling or erecting temporary structures for the purpose of begging would constitute offences. The bill if passed into law will prohibit street begging and activities associated with street urchins in public places, including motor parks, traffic intersections, pedestrian bridges and open markets.
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.
As part of its crackdown on street begging the Lagos State government recently swept beggars off the streets and at the time it is embarking on rehabilitation and welfare programmes aimed at addressing the social and economic conditions that drive people, particularly children and vulnerable youths, to the streets.
Beggars lining the streets of Lagos...