Increasing Population of Lunatics in Edo Blamed on Economy
By Victor Ofure Osehobo, Benin City
The economic challenges which the country is passing through is being blamed for the increasing population of persons living with mental illness now roaming major urban centres across Edo state.
A Social Worker, Mr Eghosa Olaye of the ReachOut Edo People Organization, a nongovernmental organization which is empowering persons with mental health challenges to live normal lives gave this indication on Friday in Benin City.
He said the situation could get worse if steps are not taken by government to empower the huge population of the unemployed young school leavers and graduates who run the risk of mental illness due to drug abuse.
According to Olaye, “Unemployed youths easily turn to drugs out of boredom. For many of them inadequate funding of healthcare centres translates to high cost of treatment coupled with expensive imported and unaffordable drugs”.
“It is a big challenge the country or society did not prepare for. There is inflation, unemployment, poor funding of psychiatric hospitals by the government and the nonchalant attitude on the part of the citizenry”.
Mr Olaye said the Federal and State government as a matter of policy must do more to engage young people to acquire relevant skills besides their paper qualifications to make them productive members of society rather than being nuisance.
He said this is why his organization is reaching out to members of the society who have had mental health challenges in the past and training them to acquire skills in Computer Appreciation, Catering and Photography.
Furthermore, Mr Olaye said that now more than ever Nigeria needs a census to know the number of people in the country so that proper budget and planning can be carried out to address the many challenges facing society such as healthcare.
“The government does not have proper statistics of its population in terms of youths, the mentally challenged and the healthy, yet this is necessary for proper budgeting for healthcare and social welfare of the citizens”.#
