 We've got to know you still there watching the breakfast on plus TV Africa now There's an issue that has become a very turning issue for a long time Even though it's being said that it's festering and it has become a really big problem nowadays We're looking at difficulties in mental health associated with corporate begging There's mental health on the one hand. There's corporate begging on the other There's begging on the other hand and then there's corporate begging, you know as an agenda to that we do have as I guess this morning Philip is she was off or sweet way mental health nurse Department of Behavioral Medicine in Last year. Good morning and welcome to the program is tell you see great Good morning. Thank you so much. It's nice to be here. Good morning audience and listeners to okay Let us try let us try to to get the link between mental health and Begging as a whole before we go into what we're discussing Thank you very much. I'd like to begin this discourse by Explaining the two major aspects of it, which is begging and the mental the mental health Now begin as we know simply means the act of asking people for money to be asked is to be asking for food clothing and Anything of necessity at a particular point in time Now that means it is solid. It is an act of soliciting solicitation For money or food or any other thing by an apparent Endless person It therefore means that it is seen as a norm in the society as long as there is genuine State of state of lack or poverty as the case may be The society come accommodates this to some extent Especially when it is what I call short-term short-term in the sense that you might be an examination hall You you you other GC jam but promotion exam or whatever and you have your writing materials and all of a sudden You depend that you are using may stop working. It means not writing a game. The ink is not flowing and you are trapped The only option you have now is to ask your fellow candidates in the same hall. Please could that now having said that It could also be in other other forms now The being could be for an individual and it could also be at the corporate level the corporate in this instance as well as as For the purpose of this discussion is like you know NGOs you can have non-government organizations that So the solicit for sponsorship Support or donation from corporate entities or individuals in order to achieve their objectives It is still a form of begging with official or corporate image presentation. You cannot deny that in the same vein The society does not condone or tolerate any form of begging devoid of transparency Honesty Genuineness it is considered an abomination once a case of dishonesty Deceitfulness or lying is established in that case this whole society that accommodates it with all sincerity of Evidence and apparent based situation that somebody's really in large or is it is in mid We now go we no longer tolerate it when it has been established. Oh, this person is not pretending This person is lying this person is deceiving the society a society France at that Now there is yet another form of corporate begging which is where we are going to be focusing more on in this discussion This is a new breed of begging like as published by Guardian where the vanguards online like you the Which prompted this discussion? I believe this corporate beggars take begging as a means of livelihood or long-term begging This because sometimes a weird rest good-looking Abobo did middle-aged young or middle-aged or young adults they usually hang out a Run shopping malls They could be in the In the market They even move around offices begging for arms weird rest with their suits. Most of them are even graduates They not take it as the form of Livelihood as a means of livelihood It becomes what they are now looking forward to particularly when they realize that oh They are even making more money more than the account of us who are in a regular or paid job civil servants or low-income in us like that publication to Tells us that some of them are making as much as 150,000 200 300,000 Naira monthly This is a huge incentive Now let's not look at the mentor the mental health aspect of our discussion this morning mental health according to WHO It's a state of well-being In which the individual Realizes his or her own abilities can cope with normal stresses of life Can work productively and food fully and is able to contribute to his or her community according to Herman et al 2005 Now this simple definition of mental health by WHO what a termization has underscored The dangers inherent in corporate begging Corporate begging now negates the meaning of mental health for example the individual that deliberately indulges in corporate begging Is living in denial of his or her abilities to work in a living or be productive and of course Contribute meaningfully and genuinely to the community or society Legitimately For instance some of them like I said before are graduates of various disciplines the implication of corporate begging in a long long run is that It erodes the psyche of the individual thereby making him or her lose self-confidence and Personal drive to genuine career development and progression The moment they discover that they can even end more than their counterparts in regular Pay jobs they can become professional beggars. They want to stick to it. They want to remain there Secondly begging is a social problem considering overall negative affairs in the society Example begging is akin to antisocial behavior according to international scholars Journalists Published online in 2014 Beggars constitute a threat to Nigerian society especially in the cities like Lagos, Potakotabuja and so on and so forth like the picture We saw in the avant-garde publication They portray a bad image to outsiders or strangers some criminals again hide under the guise of beggars to perpetrate their evil deeds The nefarious activities of fake beggars such as criminals earlier boys and thugs constitute one of the sources of civil unrest to the city dwellers Now let's take it to the next level when a professional beggar includes now a professional beggar that is someone who has decided that begging is my source of livelihood When they lose this their livelihood through government legislation or periodic rates when they have become a nuisance in the society When they lose their this their source of livelihood without an alternative source of income It could lead to frustration And when they are frustrated some of them might tend to substance use and abuse Which is another kettle of fish Resorting in a huge societal disturbance Again some might end up being depressed and when they are depressed of course, you know that that's another serious mental issue Because once depression and frustration has set in either the Tend to substance use in order for them to cope as they tell you most of them that have been Encanted before when I was in Working in an NGO that is into drug habitation Some of them we say they did that because they feel that you help them to cope Whereas at the end of the day they create more problems Dependence with drug syndromes who are also setting but most importantly is depression who could not progress to Even societal addition and society So this this is a whole chain of societal evil But people look at this tend to look at this shallowly particularly the practitioners man the people who who Who see Corporate begging as a means of livelihood They only look at the fact that oh I am making money not knowing that they are reducing their self esteem They are reducing their ability to thrive under normal circumstances particularly those that have no form of disability This stance does not Forclose the fact that some religious organizations some religious beliefs see beggars as part of a means of helping them practice their beliefs by giving arms by Giving lending high pen hands to beggars either money monetarily especially and otherwise Well, I don't have problem with that. But what we are now interested more is this corporate begging that has taken another dimension most young adults graduates they dress Go justly some I have been talking some of them personally even under in Lagos here Where where stay? Ikej on that bridge and some other a place of labor Mushi and some other places you see them where dress they will approach you And and then create one story just to appeal to your conscience to her And because the if the and one thing that works for them is that they have a kind of I don't know whether they have a kind of resistance or immunity against rejection. They know that if they approach 50 people out of that 50 Maybe 30 may reject them. Jordan 20 might May might be moved to show compassion on them. And so he keeps driving So at the end of the day, you end up having a society that is full of miscreants that is full that is contributing negatively because Some criminals now hide under the the the shadow of begging And then to carry out the necrosis activities I want to pause here at this point. I don't know if I have completed well enough. Yes. Yes very extensively. I know that I have I've seen so many I mean even in traffic and all and I think when I was even reading this story You're hearing of people who that is their day job They they earn a lot of money. And so they just feel why why do I need to have a corporate job when I can be a corporate beggar However, my question is how do we even mitigate this? How do we sensitize people to let them know that I mean there is more in you? You have the abilities you have the capability to to be able to be more than just begging on the streets And you know just looking for money that you can just get from someone So how do we mitigate this that is happening and you know just championing the fact that they can do more with their lives Yeah, this is an interesting aspect of it is called because Like I said I sometimes sometimes as an individual When I am stranded I I didn't appreciate what it takes to even beg for example All of a sudden you realize that you don't have a cash on you. You need to do a transaction and you need cash You know, I I find personally I concluded that For you to take that decision to beg somebody to beg at that point in time It's it's a burden to me. I don't know about other people, but for me it's a very difficult thing. I find it difficult to beg You know, but you see now we are not looking at people who no longer cares Their mentality is now dependent on the fact that begging is a means of making their life now the Attraction there lies on the fact that some of them can make huge sums of money at the end of the day This 20,000 daily 10,000 daily Some of them make more than that daily and then you put it all together at the end of the month They're making over 300,000 and then you look at The paying jobs now Even if even as a civil servant a graduate starting on level eight You and I know what is expected. What is the package now? You now see that it is nowhere near that amount this So-called professional beggar is making so that's the enticement That's the enticement What is important now is for the society NGOs even government agencies national orientation agency a minister of information religious organizations churches most and all others Seeing it as something that Has negative effect because a lot of youths now Lies in about You know, we need to start working on their mentor on their mind the mindsets If their mind is not disabused that oh, you are able you are graduates Uh, therefore you can do something legitimately government can offer Platforms whereby these people these individuals can be trained some NGOs are trying to organize a What what we call empowerment programs I am involved in a social welfare minister of my church for example We organize Empowerment programs from time to time to our team in youths Now again I cannot Deny the fact that the society itself Is also part of these problems. How do I mean? Look at this. Look at the Nigerian states today. Look at our society today No jobs Even those that have the best brains Are denied of opportunities to even offer them employment You have to bring a letter from a senator from a one politician or they'll you you must be a candidate of A well connected individual in the society Before you can be considered for offer of job explaining the ministries and paracetals agencies Even in the organized private sector There is some Observation that they put is in place a rule two people have applied for a job the one that has the best Uh, the best minimum qualification Is denied because he doesn't know anybody or he belongs to a particular tribe So the key thing is actually in having the society need to Be re-engineered government need to wake up to their responsibilities NGOs need to come up of religious bodies organizations churches fellowships They cannot come up and have a Speak with one voice I am not condemning begging totally because there are people of course because of their disability They may be what I call long-term beggars But these ones that have the ability they went to school The society should find a way of accommodating them showing them an alternative means of making and earning their livelihood If we get it from there from their mental states Then will it's not going to be a day's job is going to be Something that is continuous That will be done intentionally deliberately To get them understand To win them off that dependency because it's it's when it has become a corporate begging When someone has chosen corporate begging as a career now as a profession, you know, he's looking at what he's getting And come to think of it How many Corporate bodies can deploy young graduates and then place him on a salary of over 400,000 Whereas in the begging industry the profession now He is seen close to that or more even a little bit maybe a little bit less than that So this is where the problem now lies So I believe that if the government Should do more NGOs can do more religious bodies can do more Individuals respected individual role models All these are our celebrities if some of them can actually become ambassadors of legitimate means of livelihood I am quite sure to go a long way. It may not eradicate it completely But it will reduce It to get along way in reducing the incidents. Okay. This is my own understanding of the whole thing from my own experience There were so many questions I wanted to ask you But you seem to have answered all that your profiles the solutions that we need to curb this Now the beggars in your description are sounding really smart and confident, you know But the problem is that they're using the smartness and the confidence in a negative way just like People who are doing Yahoo Instead of using the same internet for legitimate businesses, which sometimes would even pay them more But they just want to stay the negative way, but we'd like to thank you Mr. Osigwe for coming on the program this morning. It's been very enlightening. Thank you so much Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah That was Mr. Philip Ishiguzo Osigwe mental health nurse department of behavioral medicine in lasso talking to us about begging and Creating a connection between begging and mental health So if you're smart enough or you're confident enough and you're not using it to contribute to the society You just might have a mental problem because you are not exploring all your capabilities To use to better our society. That's why we've got the curtain this morning. We thank you for being there