By Augustine Omilo
It is estimated that 150 million people are homeless worldwide and Habitat for Humanity estimated in 2016 showed that 1.6 billion people around the world live in “inadequate shelter”.
Though different countries have different definitions of homelessness or destitution, it is a condition of living in a shelter, being in a transitional phase of housing and living in a place not fit for human habitation.
Many reasons are responsible for destitution in Nigeria. They include acute unemployment, high rate of inflation, banditry, terrorism, poor reward system, unstable foreign exchange rate and the devaluation of the nation’s currency, the naira among other factors.
In urban cities like Asaba, Delta State and Ikeja in Lagos state, destitute are mainly found in uncompleted, buildings, under fly-over bridges and even gutters and open public spaces. A visit to Okpanam road, Asaba revealed that there are many young men who usually pass the night inside drainage channels, especially during the dry season. Some of them are often seen milling around the area in the early hours of the day.
While some of them appear insane, others only exhibit traits of economic frustration and depression.
It is, therefore, on the strength of this that The Pointer went out to seek the views of the public on the cause, challenges and solution to destitution in Nigeria, Delta State inclusive. Here is what they have to say.
While sharing her experience, a trader around the popular Midwifery Market, Asaba, Mrs. Rosemary Dibie narrated how she got to her shop one day and met a gorgeously dressed lady lying down on a bench in front the shop and fast asleep.
According to her, all attempts to wake the lady up proved abortive until her noise attracted the attention of neighbours who joined her in ensuring that the obviously homeless person left the place.
In her words; “that day, I was scared. I thought the lady was dead until I got close and noticed that she was breathing. I shouted for her to no avail. I touched her severally but she refused to even open her eyes. When some people heard how I was shouting, they rushed to my shop and joined in waking up the girl. She woke up and simply walked away without comments”.
Contributing to the conversation, her neighbour, Sunday Ugoje expressed surprise at what happened on that day.
She added that, that was one of the many cases of homelessness in Nigeria.
He disclosed that many ladies who go into co-habiting with men in the name of marriage do so simply to have temporary abode. According to him, when such ladies get to points where they are able to ‘sort themselves out’, they will find excuse to leave the man. He thus warned young men to be weary of ladies who easily accept to co-habit with them without properly knowing their backgrounds and before some marriage commitments.
On the legal implications of having so many destitute in the society, Mr. Ikechukwu Kubosun, a constitutional lawyer based in Asaba regretted that even though it is the constitutional responsibility of government to ensure the wellbeing and security of citizens, it is not explicitly stated that government must isolate the destitute in the environments with a view to specially taking care of them.
Kubosun, however, adds that in places where governments are responsive to societal cares, the government can, at intervals conduct raids through security agencies and arrest suspected homeless fellows with a view to rehabilitating them.
Continuing, he adds; “In advance climes, when the government gets a hold of this class of people, they will identify those that are mentally unstable or insane and the ones that are merely suffering from depression.
They will send them to appropriate rehabilitation centres with appropriate facilities such good health care systems, vocational training centres, all manned by trained care givers.
They just don’t allow their citizens to roam the streets aimlessly”.
Asked whether homeless persons can have access to the country’s judiciary in case of identified human rights infringements, the lawyer replied in the affirmative.
He adds that the only persons who can prevent the destitute from accessing the legal system is himself or herself because of ignorance and poverty.
“If you want to know if a madman is also protected by the nation’s laws, kill one.” Additionally, Kubosun opines that the society should generally be each other’s brother’s keeper, noting that it is only through that that fellow citizens can help those found to be homeless without necessarily waiting for government.
A resident of the Delta state-owned Housing Estate, DDPA, Asaba who did not want his name in print collaborated Mrs. Rosemary Dibie:s view, on a woman found in her shop premises sleeping.
He recounted the neigborhood’s encounter with a young man who parades Okpanam road and environs with a bucket and Shovel.
According to him, the man pretends to have toiled all day without clients needing his services.
“The man would usually ask for N200 to enable him eat. But if you give him, he will locate the next drug sales point and squander the money”, he continues.
He says the man is simply known in the environment as Ete because of his suspected state of origin.
He adds that Ete’s case is one of pure depression and drug addiction that can easily be resolved if any Good Samaritan is willing to take up the issue personally or with the appropriate authorities and relations.
In the view of Dr. Sam Agboma, a physician with Federal Medical Centre, FMC Asaba, Destitute individuals are generally faced with severe and interconnected health problems due to poor living conditions, inadequate nutrition, and limited access to healthcare.
He further states that they are highly vulnerable to infectious diseases such as respiratory infections, tuberculosis, gastrointestinal illnesses, skin infections, and vector-borne diseases as well as others such as malnutrition, leading to protein-energy deficiency, anemia, and vitamin deficiencies, which weaken immunity and exacerbate illness. Chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases often go undiagnosed or untreated amongst the group, he continues.
Agboma says further; “Mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, are widespread among them while trauma, environmental exposure, and unsafe living conditions contribute to injuries, frostbite, heatstroke, and infections among destitute.
Reproductive and sexual health challenges are prevalent, with high rates of sexually transmitted infections and poor maternal outcomes. They frequently neglect oral health and barriers such as lack of identification, money, or transportation arising from the condition which also prevent them from accessing healthcare”.
Concluding, Dr. Sam Agbor says; “overall, destitute individuals endure a complex web of infectious, nutritional, chronic, mental, and traumatic health issues, highlighting the need for comprehensive interventions in areas such shelter, nutrition, preventive care, and mental health support”.
An Electrical Engineering Consultant and Chief Executive Officer, CEO of General Engineering Technology and Systems (GETSY), Mafoluku-Oshodi, Lagos, Engineer Gabriel Atukpor submits that Destitution has become very rampant in Lagos due to the increased hardship occasioned by the removal of oil subsidy and floating of the Naira in the foreign exchange market.
He adds that, it has become common to find able-bodied men and women pass the nights in market places, as many of them can be found either dressing up or attending to their toiletry needs each time one passes around these places in the early hours of any morning.Engineer Atukpor fears that if something is not urgently done by government over this issue, a criminal explosion may erupt over Nigeria, since many of these destitute are also involved alms begging activities that target the stealing of items belonging to unsuspecting helpers. Incidentally, most destitute are also beggars who harass Nigeria’s city dwellers daily.
As if Atukpor was making a case for the need for governments to take steps to rid the states of this menace, officials of the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare and Development, in collaboration with operatives of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Kwara Command, on the 13th day of September, 2025 coordinated the evacuation of beggars from the streets of Ilorin, the state capital. During the exercise, about 40 beggars were apprehended, with one of them, Musa Mahmud from Kano state found with foreign currency note (US Dollar) and another cash totaling N18,000, according to the Special Assistant to the Governor on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control, Mikail Aileru.
Though capable of being dismissed with the wave of the hand as a campaign gimmick, Adewole Adebayo, Leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its presidential candidate in the 2023 election, in May, 2025 expressed concerns that currently in Nigeria, people cannot travel 100 meters without encountering at least 100 cases of destitution because of the state of the nation.
Like one foreseeing the submission of Adebayo, in February, 2025, Vice-President Kashim Shettima urged northerners to form a single force to fight poverty and destitution irrespective of their political affiliations, religious persuasion, tribal or sectional backgrounds.
He made the call when he hosted a delegation of Southern Kaduna stakeholders on a thank you visit to the Presidential Villa.
The challenges of destitute is probably made worse with the recent postulation of the World Bank that, Nigeria’s poverty level would rise to 3.6 per cent by 2027 without stronger fiscal contract with citizens to promote inclusive economic development and long-term poverty alleviation.
The postulation adds that, it is only logical to expect the federal government to put measures in place to avert the global bank’s prediction.
Though there have been economic indicators showing that prices of some food items like rice, beans, garri, onions and others have fallen in markets across Nigeria, checks by social analysts still portray the country as a nation where many citizens have been forced into destitution as a result of hardship.
Findings in major markets show that a bag of local rice that generally sold for about N90,000 some months ago, now go for between N70,000 and N80,000, depending on the brand and grade.
The recently released report from the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC of the Central Bank of Nigeria equally noted that headline inflation moderated to 20.12 per cent in August from 21.88 per cent in July, while food inflation dropped to 21.87 per cent from 22.74 per cent.
It further stated that core inflation also eased to 20.33 per cent from 21.33 per cent over the same period and month-on-month inflation slowed sharply to 0.74 per cent in August compared with 1.99 per cent in July. Amidst all these, the governor of the Central bank of Nigeria, CBN, Dr. Yemi Cardoso also announced the reduction of interest rate in the country from 30 percent to 27 percent.
However, there are policy analysts who hold the view that the inflation figures only decreased at an increasing rate.
Sebastian Ikposa, a public affairs commentator is of the view that the reduction in inflation rate as posted recently by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS is yet to manifest in the purchasing power of Nigerians, especially workers, whose minimum wage of N70,000 can no longer guarantee good family feeding and transport to and from office.
As if in agreement with Ikposa’s submission, the Ondo State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC recently wrote to the governor, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, demanding for an increase in the state’s minimum wage from N73,000 per month to N256,000, citing the present economic realities in the country.
The union is also demanding a better improved welfare package for retirees in the state.
