STREET BEGGING IN OGBOMOSO, NIGERIA

Begging has been a serious problem confronting cities across the globe. The situation becomes worse when it confronts cities of less developed nations.Despite the pronounced manifestation of this problem in developing countries, people still regard begging as a normal phenomenon. This study therefore examined the Socio- economic implications of begging in Nigerian cities with Ogbomoso as a case study.Beggars were enumerated on different weekdays in all wards and questionnaires were administered randomly on selected beggars. The study employed descriptive statistics as mean, percentage and Z-scores to analyze the data. The hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). it was discovered that begging is a function of religion, culture, disability, poverty and land use. The conclusion was that begging has implications for environmental, social and economic well – being of the city. Recommendations were made for government, NGOs, individuals, mass media on how to combat the menace of begging.