By Freshgist
Massive influx of Mentally deranged persons along the streets of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State Capital has become a source of worry to residents of the state.
The development which contradicts the desire of the state to keep its internationally recognized record as the cleanest and most serene environment for residents, tourist and investors, was described as hazardous by the residents.
Recall, the former commissioner for women Affairs and social welfare, Mrs Glory Edet had in 2021 attributed that over 70 percent out of hundreds of mentally deranged persons in the streets of the state were sneaked into the state from neighboring states at night, while flagging off her evacuation of mentally sick persons campaign in the state capital.
Speaking with The Reporters diary in Uyo, on Monday, one of the residents who was seen exchanging words with a mad man, Mr Peter okon, a plumber, disclosed it was not reasonable to have mad people on the street alongside with normal people, described his experiences as hazardous.
Okon urged the new state governor, His Excellency Pastor Umo Eno to facilitate the process of evacuating the mentally deranged persons to psychiatric hospital.
"It is embarrassing to have mentally deranged persons everywhere in our dear state because most of them are dangerous. Imagine as I was on my way back from fixing tap for my customer, I felt a very heavy drop of stone on my left shoulder, and I looked backward, just to realize it was from a mad man. And when I asked him why he stoned me, he responded in another language which I could not understand, and started laughing". Okon stated
A lady who pleaded Anonymous, expressed sadness over the massive influx of mad people in the state, urging the securities to be more vigilant especially with incoming long vehicles covered with tarpoline.
Also Narrating his encounter, Mrs Ekpedeme Ekobi disclosed that her windscreen was smashed by a mad man while she was taking her child back from school along Abak Road.
Analysing, our Correspondent gathered that there was needs for the state government to act fast in evacuating the mentally illed persons from the street in order to ensure that serenity of the state.
Investigation revealed that not less than 70 percent of mentally illed persons are from neighbouring states, brought in at night into the state capital and some developed local government of the state.
Reacting on the issue, the Chairman of The Center for Human Rights and Accountability Network (CHRAN) Mr Franklyn Isong, called on the government to take the insane persons off the streets.
He called on the state government through the ministry of social welfare to set up a tax force committee to investigate and evacuate the insane persons off the streets to a psychiatric hospital for treatment and questioning.
The CHRAN boss added that if the situation is allowed to go unchecked it could constitute a security threat to the state.
"It is very unfortunate to have a large number of insane people flooding Akwa Ibom , most of them don't speak languages we understand.
"Even in my own local government, Ikot Akpaden -Ekim area of Mkpat Enin Local governments, people load mad people and import them to the state in the night , dump them and run away and when you wake up in the morning , you see mad people everywhere in both rural and urban areas of the state.
"So this has become more worrisome to the point that we in CHRAN , are calling on ministry of social welfare to begin to investigate the influx of the insane persons, and they should set up a tax force, made up of the civil society groups, media, health and security agencies, to pick up all mad people to psychiatric hospital in Eket for treatment , as some of them might be a minor issue, so that if they recover, they will be able to answer some questions to know where they come from.
"The government should also investigate to know where and how the mad people are being imported to the state because some of them are knocked down by hit and run vehicle , not less than a week ago , some one was found dead a long Sampson Udo Idiong avenue and after some days, it began to stench, I had to inform the Akwa Ibom state environmental and waste management agency Chairman and security personnel who came to pick up the corpse
"So there's needs for the state government to evacuate these insane persons from Itam market area, Atiku, Idoro, Nawaniba, Oron road, IBB way, Abak road, Ekom Imaan/ Ikot oku ikono junction, mkpat enin, Ikot Ekpene, Abak, Etinan , Eket, Oron and many other places , clean the up and when they recover, they will be able to tell where they are from because more than 70 per cent of them are not from Akwa Ibom.
"Most of them are constituting security traits in the state , some of them are normal, walking around the street as mad people in the day to spy the area and in d night they may harm our people in one way or the other". Isong added
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