Nigeria, July 10 -- The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has ordered a sweeping crackdown on street beggars, illegal traders, scavengers, and criminal syndicates operating within Abuja and its satellite towns.

According to a statement issued Wednesday by Lere Olayinka, the minister's senior special assistant on public communications and social media, a special joint task force has already commenced operations across the capital under a security initiative tagged "Operation Sweep Abuja."

The clampdown, Mr Wike said, is aimed at restoring order, safety, and aesthetic integrity to Nigeria's capital city and curbing the rising menace of "one-chance" robbery gangs and other social vices associated with street loi...