ODSG to rid state of destitute
By Kemi Olatunde & Josephine Oguntoyinbo
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Worried by the influx of destitute into Ondo State, the Government has concluded plans to evacuate all destitute and mentally derailed persons parading the major streets of Akure.
Director Social Welfare of the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mr. Sarumi Adeyemi who gave the hint while speaking with The Hope stated that efforts are in top gear to rid the state of destitute.
He explained that similar evacuation was done in April, 2018 and affirmed that the state governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has again directed that the exercise be carried out soon.
Our investigation revealed that majority of the mentally unstable people parading the streets of Akure were imported from other states in the country and were dumped in neighbouring towns, investigations also revealed.
“The state government is working towards evacuating the destitute from the streets. The state government has been taking care of this set of people at the temporary rehabilitation center along Ondo road, Akure.
“We administer drugs on them, though it takes time before getting useful information from them, immediately they start getting right, we will get information on different states they came from in order to repatriate them. The Ministries of Women Affairs in their various states will thereafter re-unite them with the families,” he explained.
The deluge of mentally ill people who are mainly youths parading the streets of Akure in the recent time has been causing some disquiet.
Those interviewed expressed concerns over fears posed to innocent members of the public.
The Hope gathered that a lot of factors could be responsible for this; while some were of the opinion that drug abuse constitutes a major factor, others believe that environmental factor contributes in no small measure to its increase.
Speaking with The Hope, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Wahab Adegbenro explained that drug abuse especially among the youth constitutes a major role in the increasing number of mentally unstable people on the streets.
According to him, when they take drug excessively, they become a threat to the society.
According to a commercial driver in Akure who simply identified himself as Wole, the number of destitute pouring into Akure is not only alarming but increasing almost on weekly basis.
He explained that they are in different categories, saying “some are easily identifiable while some are too neat to believe they are sick upstairs. “One of them stopped me and I picked him because he behaved like a normal human being until he started questioning why other passengers were not sitting properly like gentle men.
“It was a terrible scene; it took the efforts of passersby to bundle him out of the vehicle.”
An enforcement agent, who refused to reveal his identity, explained that their influx into the state capital is alarming, saying “it is like they are forming an association here.”
Narrating his ordeal with one of them, he stated that he never knew he was dealing with a mentally derailed person as he was neatly dressed until he moved toward a waste bin and started eating from there.
His words: “I saw wonders that day. I was trying to enforce people to do certain things until I saw the man on my way. The man, who was neatly dressed, greeted me and we were walking along the same path until he opened a waste bin and started eating from it. He even invited me to join him for dinner.”
Also speaking, a young lady, who is always seen along Oba Adesida and identified herself as ‘kekere’ said she enjoyed leaving ‘her abode’ to see the life in Akure.
She explained that she loves making friends with hardworking and neat people, noting that she hates those who don’t embrace cleanliness.
A tattered looking mentally unstable young man who identified himself as Gbenga while speaking very briefly stated that he hails from Ekiti State and added that he was coming from “estate” and heading towards an undisclosed location.
Also, another mentally unstable man who is popular around the pedestrian bridge along Oba Adesida road, while begging for alms stated that he needs money to eat and take care of his family which according to him are in London.
Identifying his name as ‘me’, he stated that he travelled down to Akure from Kogi to live a normal life, noting that life over there was not encouraging.
Chief Medical Director, Ondo State Neuropsychatric Specialist Hospital, Akure, Dr. Akinwumi Akinnuoye noted that the presence of mentally unstable persons on the streets is common everywhere in the world.
According to him, some societies put some measures in place to keep them off the streets so as not to constitute medical nuisance to the society.
He said in Nigeria, we seem not to have mobilised enough resources to extract them from the streets on continuous pattern. What we have most of the time is a reaction to some specific problems.”
Describing their presence on the streets as unhealthy for the society, he hinted that one out of five Nigerians has mental health challenge, noting that some of the mentally derailed persons constitute significant security risk due to the nature of their illness.
He said; “A good fraction of homicidal event is as a result of mental health instability and to some extent, not attending to them constitutes danger to the society.”
