Begging enterprise: A growing trend among Igbo Christians in Nsukka Urban

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Begging enterprise: A growing trend among Igbo Christians in Nsukka Urban
 
Creator Ugwu, Ndidiamaka V. Okoye, Kanayochukwu M.
 
Subject Religion; Cultural Studies begging; Igbo society; hard work; communalism; Christianity
Description It is obvious that the practice of begging is growing exponentially and changing into various forms mostly among the Christians in the Nsukka area. Although begging has long been in existence in the Nsukka area, it has never been encouraged. Financial assistance from family and relatives usually prevents an indigent person from begging in the street. Giving alms to the poor is regarded as a religious duty by many people. But, some beggars take advantage of people’s sympathy and thus the practice of begging is encouraged. Many scholars have written about the increase in the number of beggars in Igboland and attributed it to a number of factors such as poverty and ill health. Some see it as an indictment on government. However, this present study attributes the increase in the number of beggars in Nsukka’s cultural area to religion, laziness as against hard work, individualism as against communalism, social disorganisation because of urbanisation. These beggars who do nothing other than to beg are less productive, and consequently contribute nothing to the nation’s economy. They are a nuisance in the society, as some engage in all kinds of immoral activities that degrade human society. This study therefore attempts to explore the growing trend of begging among Igbo Christians in Nsukka Urban. It aims to identify the different dimensions of begging and the reasons behind this practice. A qualitative phenomenological method was employed in this study.Contribution: The findings of this study revealed that poverty is not the cause of begging among Christians in Nsukka but rather laziness, individualism, and religious mendicancy, among others. It recommends that the Igbo people should go back to the values that bind them together.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2022-06-13
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v78i4.7106
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 78, No 4 (2022); 7 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7106/22237 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7106/22238 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7106/22239 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7106/22240
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Ndidiamaka V. Ugwu, Kanayochukwu M. Okoye https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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