THE Edo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (PC) has expressed concern over the increasing presence of people who are mentally deranged and called on the state government to rid the streets of Benin City and other parts of the state of these people for possible rehabilitation or confinement.
The lunatics are present in every part of the city including Government Reservation Area (GRA) like the golf course road, Aideyan, Osadebey Avenue and other parts of the city. There is hardly any road intersection and streets without lunatics and some constituting nuisance to road users.
The state chairman of the party said the situation may be a result of the collapse of rehabilitation facilities due to official neglect and poor funding by the state government.
In a statement signed by the Assistant State Publicity Secretary of the party, Victor Osehobo, Imuse said the party has found that the menace appears to have witnessed an upsurge with the absence of a functional Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development.
He said, “The unending infighting in the PDP government led by Mr Obaseki, which has deprived the State of a Cabinet of Civil Commissioners and Special Advisers, has not helped matters.
“Forget the claims by the government about its so-called benevolence to healthy citizens, even in the peak of the Covid19 pandemic, don’t these people also need government attention in the area of clothing, feeding and healthcare?
“Only a people-centred government knows that it has a duty to periodically organize a massive exercise to get these people off the Streets, or even realize that such moves would also help a great deal in strengthening the already precarious security situation in the state”.
The state governor, Godwin Obaseki is yet to inaugurate a cabinet and has not also appointed a spokesperson, so Vanguard could not get official reaction from government but civil servant in the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development said “Several times, these people have been picked and taken for rehabilitation but before you know they are back to the streets because there are no adequate facilities to take care of them and there is also poor funding”
