NIGERIA: JTF Bans Hawking, Begging Around Checkpoints In Yobe

 The Joint Task Force on Internal Security (JTF) in Yobe has banned hawking and begging around security checkpoints in the state, a statement said in Damaturu yesterday.

The statement by JTF spokesman Lt. Eli Lazarus also advised hawkers to use “designated markets and other approved places for trading activities.’’

“Henceforth, anybody found hawking around security checkpoints will be arrested and prosecuted,” the statement stated.

It further warned beggars against squatting around checkpoints to beg for alms from motorists lined up for stop and search operations.

Hawkers and beggars in Damaturu and other major towns in the state often besiege security checkpoints to do business and beg respectively.

Our correspondent reports that most of the hawkers are young ladies selling pure water, boiled eggs and groundnuts while the beggars are old women, blinds and lepers using teenagers to beg from motorists or any passerby.

Yobe government on Monday reviewed the curfew period in the state from 8pm to 7am to 6pm to 6am after the Federal Government declared emergency rule in the state with two others.