PANIC as mentally ill persons prowl Warri streets, highways

PANIC as mentally ill persons prowl Warri streets, highways

Eli EDREMODA, Warri

 

The rising influx of mentally challenged persons on the streets, major roads, market places and highways across Delta State is alarming. While not all appear violent, some others may pose danger to normal people.

Often times people have testified of these mad persons throwing stones at unsuspecting members of the public, or bearing objects which could be used to inflict harm.

Where do they come from? Don’t they have relatives? Is there a provision for them by government? Which government authority is responsible for their welfare? How do they survive? Can they be cured? These among many other worrying questions come to mind when the thought of the potential menace they pose to the general public stares one in the face.

Having mad men around has become a normal feature in the society such that  one even notices when they suddenly disappear from a known spot.

Sparsely cladded in rags or entirely naked, they walk around streets, roads, markets and highways in the day time.

PANIC as mentally ill persons prowl Warri streets, highways 

PANIC as mentally ill persons prowl Warri streets, highways

And at night, they nest in their makeshift abodes, mostly under bridges, bus stops, roadsides and medians of highways. Some of them bear trash luggage which they guard jealously and take with them wherever they go.

In recent times, persons who engage in rituals, have allegedly taken to disguising as mad persons so as to easily carry out u their plans.

One would think that this development should push the relevant authorities to clear the society of mad people, but no, they continue to increase.

Cases of mad women putting to birth have at one time or the other dominated the media space, but what happens to such be the most victims of mental issues.

This reporter took a survey of mentally challenged persons in Warri and its neighbouring towns and discovered a total of 46 mad persons roaming the highways and some major roads.

Of this number are 28 men, 18  women, while 25 looked below 30 years of age. While this may not be an exact number of the entire mad populace in these areas, it is a shocking figure.

Interactions with some residents of Warri metropolis indicated that some of these tagged mad persons will be off the streets if given the necessary healthcare.

A businesswoman, simply identified as Mrs. Efe, said some make their living from doing some sorts of odd jobs. “When I was selling at PTI Junction, they used to help us carry our goods and we pay them little money.

But a time came and they were picked up by probably government people. It really became tough for us after they left because we had to struggle with carrying our things by ourselves,” she said.

While some still have the sense to work in order to eat, others go about begging alms or food. However, there are some who steal. They monitor their target and snatch whatever it is that has caught their eyes. The Nation witnessed a scenario at the popularbe the most victims of mental issues.

This reporter took a survey of mentally challenged persons in Warri and its neighbouring towns and discovered a total of 46 mad persons roaming the highways and some major roads.

Of this number are 28 men, 18  women, while 25 looked below 30 years of age. While this may not be an exact number of the entire mad populace in these areas, it is a shocking figure.

The Nation witnessed a scenario at the popular Jakpa Junction in Uvwie council area, where a known madman snatched a N200 note from a passenger aboard a tricycle, popularly known as ‘Keke Napep,’ and ran away.

There was traffic at the Effurun Market axis of the junction, so she got down calling out the madman, ‘hief, he stole my money.’

Other tricycle riders and people around just laughed and said, ‘Madam, who will chase a madman now?’ Seeing the helpless situation, she boarded the vehicle and left.

A young lady, Blessing Okoh (not real names), also recounted an encounter with one near PTI Junction. “I was returning from choir rehearsals that evening, about 6:40pm.

There was heavy traffic. So, I stood at the junction trying to get Keke. Suddenly, I felt someone smack my buttocks. I was already raising my voice to unleash mayhem when I turned and saw it was a madman, a young one like in his mid 20s.

He sniffed at me. Oh, I was embarrassed and afraid and just stepped away from him. The people in traffic were just staring.

I can’t even tell if they noticed what happened. Imagine if that place was lonely, that guy could have done worse. I don’t even want to think about it,” Okoh added, shaking her head as if to shut out the image.

A longtime resident in Warri, Tony Palmer, explained that the case of loitering madmen has always been baffling because “you will just wake up and see a madman here or there. It is like people come to dump them overnight.

That is why you can hear reports of ritualistic persons who disguise madmen to perpetuate their evil acts. That Otokutu Bridge where they usually carry out their acts, I have noticed no mad person roaming the area for over a month now, especially since one suspect was burnt to death, early December or so. Let us keep our fingers crossed and hope it remains so”.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Social Development in Delta State, Mrs Oghenekevwe Agas, noted that the rise of mentally challenged persons on the streets and highways is due to financial constraints.

She explained that no specific fund is made available for their care, but out of the annual budget for vulnerable persons, among which mental persons are grouped, the ministry caters for them.

“We don’t have a budget to take care of mad persons. The ministry, as part of its mandates, takes care of the vulnerable persons. And the category of the vulnerable persons includes people who have mental challenges.

There is no special budget for them. However, sometimes we are called upon, as a ministry, maybe some of the persons on the streets are causing nuisance, we are asked to evacuate them; these are an ad-hoc kind of assignments.

 

There are some times they just clog the streets. Then, we just have to make provision. Sometimes, we have some of the mentally challenged women that get pregnant. In such situations, we have to safeguard the baby. We take custody of the persons, take them to a mental home.

We have some homes that are registered with us and then, we take the children to orphanages. Talking about the budget now, some of these homes that collaborate with us, we give them stipends for some months, to take care of the persons we have taken to their homes.

“Because of the financial implication, it is difficult to just say, maybe every three months you mop them up. When you take them out of the streets, most don’t know their families, so you have to take them to these rehabilitation centres and that means you are going to pay them (centres) to take care of them (mad persons).

The cost is enormous; so we cannot just say that maybe every quarter, we mop them up. But sometimes, we see that maybe the menace is getting too much, we just do an ad-hoc arrangement to get them off.

But we know that they will definitely come back or new ones will come up,” Mrs Agas stated via the telephone

Meanwhile, a counselling psychologist, Mr. Igho Tietie, attributed some causes of mental illness to biological issues, abuse of drugs and poor treatment of high fever.

He noted that Nigeria, especially Delta State, does not have “real statistic or data base on them”. According to him, early detection and treatment can cure some of these victims and have them living normal lives again.

“It is prevalent because you see them on the streets, unlike other climes where such persons are taken to a psychiatric hospital. Apart from the Central Hospital, Warri, I don’t think there is any other institution for them in this environment.

Again, it has a bearing on our mentality. Our people see every ‘mad person’ as being punished by God, so when someone manifests such characters, instead of treating him, they push the person away. The government is not helpful in this regard.

Those days, once the people get to the street, they are evacuated to professional centers where they are attended to. But our government seems unconcerned; they don’t see it as part of their responsibilities. Again, Warri and environs do not have any social centre that is functional.

“If there is a budget or preparation for them, then it is not getting down to the people who are to use it. If you get to the Central Hospital, Warri, you will find out that the doctors, nurses, and maybe some churches and NGOs are the ones who come to give, as far as provisions, to them, just to keep them for another day.

Many of them (psychiatrists) just love these people because they understand their plight, so they can’t push them away. Even if you get there now, you will find that the population is much. The government seems not to be interested. If they are, something is not connecting,” Tietie said.

Asked about their abilities to inflict harm on normal persons and measures government should take to curb the situation, the counsellor stated, “Yes, they can be very harmful. About two weeks back, I saw one, a lady, with a cutlass.

I had already driven past her before I noticed what she was holding and I thought, ‘Wow, if this woman goes berserk, who is going to hold her down?’ And before they would be able to do that, she may have injured or killed some persons.

Hence, my counsel to government is that it really needs to wake up. This is the duty of the Ministry of Health. Government seems to be far from Warri, everything government does is actually far from Warri.

Even though a budget is appropriated, maybe there is no follow-up. Government needs to budget, and then release the funds that have been budgeted.”

“Because it is not a good sight. Some of them walk on the road, stark naked. Imagine our children will see a man with all his genitals open, a woman with all her private parts exposed. Many times, between Army Barracks and Nigercat area, we do see some of their corpses.

Nobody cares for them. They are human beings. It’s just that they have psychological problems at the moment. And they are entitled to proper attention and treatment. Then families should know that it is not everyone that is a witch.

The advent of, should I say, pentecostalism, with the die, die, die prayers, once you see anybody displaying abnormal behaviour, you say ‘God has touched him.’ No. Our society has to move beyond that. When we see such situations, especially at its early stage, we should consult a psychiatrist.

Early detection and treatment actually help most of them to recover fully. This brings all of us to the responsibility of ensuring that the people around us don’t abuse drugs and substances we have around,” he added.

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