Residents in Osogbo have expressed concerns over the influx of mentally ill persons to the town.

Some of the residents who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Osogbo, said that the number of such persons on major roads in the town was worrisome.

The respondents called on the state government to urgently address the issue and evacuate them off the streets for rehabilitation or send them back to their states.

Mr Biola Awosun, a resident, said that some of the mentally ill persons on the street were victims of their own nemesis.

Awosun attributed drug abuse and diabolic activities as some of the factors responsible for the large number of mental health cases on the streets.

He appealed to the state government to do something urgently to evacuate them off the streets for the safety of the residents.

Another resident, Mrs Adenike Faponda, a trader at Ejigbo motor park, was of the opinion that some of the mentally unstable people on the streets were brought from other states.

Faponda urged the government to put such people into psychiatric homes where they could be rehabilitated.

However, Dr Andrew Dosunmu, a Psychologist, said that the majority of person with mental illness on the streets of Osogbo were as a result of drug abuse.

Dosunmu, who is the founder of Psychcare Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation, said that many psychotropic substances have been introduced into society and their abuse accounted for the large number of mental disorders.

The psychologist said that there were different types of mental cases like schizophrenia, depression and childhood developmental disorders, among others.

“The one that is so persistent, especially in Osun, is among the youth, which is a mental illness caused by drug and substance abuse, which is commonly called addiction.

“It is very high and even alarming, and among the adolescents, from the ages of 16 to 45.

“This is the period when hard drugs are on the increase.

“New hard drugs are being introduced into society, synthetic and non-synthetic drugs; it is everywhere,” he said.

Furthermore, Dosunmu said that the number of people affected by drug abuse was on the increase and blamed this on poor family background.

“There are families where the mother and father are living in the same house but they are separated.

“Children who come from such homes have psychological torture and are not able to concentrate in their various schools.

“They confide in their friends, who in turn lure them into taking drugs, and it leads to addiction”, he said.

Dosunmu said all hands must be on deck to raise the children in order for a better and brighter future for the youths.

“It is a collective effort of the society; the government cannot do everything alone.”

Also, Ms Dunmilola Akinola, a nurse at Asubiaro Hospital, Osogbo, said the government was doing its best to ensure the necessary attention was given to mentally ill persons in the town.

Akinola, however, urged the state’s task force officers to do more in evacuating such persons from the roads.

Meanwhile, the state government has said it was doing its best to see that mentally unstable people were taken off the streets and rehabilitated.

Mr Richard Oyegbami, the Permanent Secretary, Osun Ministry of Environment told NAN that the ministries of Environment and Sanitation, and Youth, Sports and Special Needs were interrelated and both worked together to get mentally ill persons rehabilitated.

Oyegbami said the government was doing its best to ensure that mentally ill people were taken off the streets.

“The government is not just watching.

“When they see mentally ill persons, there is a particular place they take them to get them rehabilitated,” he said. (NAN)