Authority Newspaper Exclusive: Huge menace: Why mentally deranged, beggars invade South-East

Over a month, our re­porters spent time ob­serving the South East and returned a damning ver­dict: beggars and mad people have taken over the cities.
World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that men­tal and behavioural disorders alone constitute 12 per cent of the global burden and that nearly 450 million people have mental or behavioural disor­ders. WHO equally estimate that by 2020, the burden of mental disorders would in­creases to 15 per cent and men­tal disorders will be among the leading causes of global dis­ease burden and that by then, depression alone is expected to become the second highest cause of death and disability worldwide.
In order to ward off these problems, in 2015, Anambra State under the leadership of Mr Peter Obi raided the towns in the state and over 200 beg­gars/ destitutes were taken off the streets. Similar activities, we gathered, were carried out in Imo, Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu states. Even at some points par­ents numbering over 100 were dragged to Family Courts for allegedly converting their chil­dren to beggers. Just three days ago, about 150 adults caught apprehended for using children for begging are in being investi­gated and would be prosecuted in the Family Court.
Inspite of efforts to rid the street of beggars, these people continue to swarm major cit­ies in the South-East. This is inispite of the fact that begging is not in the blood of an aver­age Igbo man and they have no religion which encourages beg­ging.
It was discovered that major­ity of these beggars are from Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Yobe, Plateau and some other stated in the northern parts of the country, while a few others are from Cross-River, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Rivers States.
These beggars and lunatics, numbering over 5,000 are com­peting for space in the cities in South-East and actually have taken over public spaces, inves­tigations by The AUTHORITY on Sunday reveals.
Functions like burial cer­emonies, traditional marriage ceremonies, ofala festivals and other public activities provide them fora to engage in their trade. In Abia State, major­ity of such people are suffering from mental problems and they are youths and teenagers, thus heightening the belief that drug abuse and cultism could be the major source of the menace. In Enugu, people allude to sexual infidelity as the major cause of women becoming lunatic.
Investigations have revealed that a civil servant with the Min­istry of Environment, Anambra State, Mrs Rose Ali, a graduate of Linguistics of the Univer­sity of Jos, native of Nimo, was among the over 200 mentally deranged taken off the streets.
On her part, Mrs Nkechinyere Okeke staff of the Anambra State Waste Management Agen­cy (ASWAMA) was apprehend­ed for converting her daughter, Ginika, to a beggar so as raise N80,000 she claimed was for the treatment of her sick child.
Some others seen as corporate beggars have legitimate “beg­ging” business registered with the Corporate Affairs Com­mission (CAC). They include a group known as Humanitarian Welfare Rescue Mission with headquarters in Abuja em­ployed graduate beggars. One Anichebe Okwudili and On­yebuchi Ona, who claim to be university graduated, have been engaged to beg for a woman identified as Chizoba who was said to hail from Nsukka.
Aside from the beggars, a woman known simply as Oy­imaja, a native of Enugu Ezike in Igbo Eze North Local Govern­ment Area of Enugu state told her husband Ezeja that she was through with their marriage. Consequently, she ran mad be­cause she had a boyfriend out­side her matrimonial home.
It was also gathered that some women who were raped, in mis­sion to avenge the rapist, con­jure some mystical powers and make her assailant run man.
At Upper Iweka in Onitsha, there was a mad cripple who was reported to also be a rapist. It was learnt that the mad man would ambush young girls mov­ing about at late hours under the flyover at Upper Iweka and rape them. This mad man was said to be very strong that it took able bodied men to deal with and stop him from the act by keep­ing him in chains permanently.
At Ekochin bus stop in 9th Mile Conner, Ngwo in Enugu State, an elderly mad man is seen always standing on a waste dumping site around the area. Along the dilapidated Onitsha-Enugu expressway, several crippled beggars have stationed themselves to beg alms. Even near the Anam­bra State Governors Lodge at Amawbia, the menace of beg­gars are very obvious.
Following increasing num­ber of beggars and mad people, some people capitalize on their problems and organize them in groups begging with musi­cal instrument in motor parks and markets. They also attend burial ceremonies, traditional marriage ceremonies, ofala festivals and other public func­tions.
For instance at a recent ofala festival of a popular traditional ruler near Onitsha, these beg­gars and lunatics constituted serious nuisance they became serious eye sore.
A young man who always begs for arms at near the Peace Mass Transit Motor Park in Enugu, claims that his face got burnt and disfigured by acid while working as an auto elec­trician. According to him all effort made to secure financial help from rich men in his vil­lage failed and he has no other option than to beg money for feeding and medication.
Some of these beggars are however doing it as a result of laziness. An able bodied young man who was apprehended re­cently begging near the Onit­sha South Mass Transit Motor park also in Enugu, was blasted for choosing to be a beggar be­cause he has one leg. The old man offered to train him in shoe making job to get him out of begging but he rejected the offer. Similarly, young girls who were impregnated by run­away boyfriends equally resort to begging to make ends meet.
Aside from all these, drug abuse is another source of lu­nacy in the society and victims also become beggars. At Woli­wo axis in Onitsha, a young man named Chuks was said to have turned lunatic after sniff­ing heroine. Lucky he was re­vived at a Psychiatric hospital in Benin.
Principal of the Vocational/Rehabilitation Center, Nteje, Oyi local government Anam­bra state, Mrs. Chinyere Ig­uomu inspite of the problems they face, they have about 32 physically-challenged and about 18 destitutes under their care. On his part, Rev. Jerry Dada Obi, founder of Tree of Life Gospel Church, Nanka in Anambra State, is said to be a gifted spiritualist who has brought succor to lots of mentally deranged people, but he insists he did what he did through the help of God.
Speaking also on such prob­lems, an Onitsha based medi­cal practitioner, Dr. Emeka Uwalaka, said that depression which may come as result of disappointment in love affairs and self-could lead to mental illness. He added that women abuse, whether in marriage or in ordinary relationship, can result to depression which eventually could lead to full-blown mental sickness.
However, Pastor Okoli of Miracle and Fire Deliverance Ministries International, said that the problem with many of people is that they divorce spirituality from their daily lives, insisting that “even in the scripture, it is caused by the evil spirit”.
One of the public places in Enugu metropolis where an avalanche of beggars and mad people operate on daily basis is within the vicinities of Ogbete Main Market extending up to the Holy Ghost Catholic Ca­thedral. Before now, the bulk of the beggars constitutes of insane people, physically chal­lenged and handicapped des­titute, who are not fit to fend for themselves or financially capable blood relations to cater for them, but now physically fit human beings have joined due to its lucrative nature.
One of such beggars who gave her name as Mrs. Blessing James and a native of Osisioma Ngwa in Abia State said her family cannot afford to cater for the daily upkeep of their triplet, which forced them into beg­ging.
Apart from the market axis in Enugu, Ogui road, Okpara avenue, New Haven and even around the various intuitions of higher learning in Enugu are filled with corporate beggars in uniforms taking advantage of traffic to beg under the pretext they are looking for money for medical treatment of their loved ones.
Worried by the menace in Enugu, the Commissioner for Gender Affairs, Hon. Peace Nnaji, explained that govern­ment made several attempts at taking the beggars/mad people off the streets by moving them to the state Rehabilitation Cen­ter, Emene, but several of them escaped and re-appear on the streets.
In Owerri, Imo State, around the World Bank Housing Estate one Ekene in his late 50s popu­larly called “Old Soldier” has been surviving clearing gutters. After a hard day job, he retires at a corner at Otobad shop to gulp down some bottles of beerhe is non-violent, easy going, and very eloquent in spoken Eng­lish language. Old Soldier may remain in that mental state for a long time because many just amuse themselves talking to him, with no concrete efforts at helping him find solutions to his problems.
Meanwhile, the Imo State Government has expressed con­cern over the rising number of mentally unstable people and destitutes, just as it attributed such to abuse of hard drugs.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Women Af­fairs and Social Development, Dr. Joseph Okeagu made the disclosure in a chat with The Authority on Sunday in Owerri.
Dr Okeagu noted that many families have dropped below the poverty line, saying an economy that is monolithic and depends solely on one commodity is a problem waiting to happen, and by extension her citizens, saying the number of people into cor­porate begging were increasing.
On his part, Sir Bernard Mbabie, the Director of Reha­bilitation in the State Ministry of Health, Women Affairs and Social Development, said peri­odically, the ministry embarks on routine checks during which it evacuates destitute and the mentally unstable people to the state’s rehabilitation centre in Umuneke, Ngor Okpala.
As part of measures to check­mate the trend, Mbabie said the ministry has reached out to the leader of Hausas, Seriki Hausa in Owerri and his counterpart in the Joint National Associa­tion of Persons living with Dis­abilities (JONARDs) to appeal to their members to stop acts of begging. Mbabie disclosed in time past, after money was giv­en to the destitute to eke a liv­ing, they returned to the same spot on Douglas road with the hope that they will be raided again, and given another start-up capital.
In Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, the story is not different. Some of them are violent, while others calmly stay by the side of the streets,
particularly the Obiri and Gonni Roads axis which is lo­cated near Abakpa Main Mar­ket.
Along the Water Works Road, beside the First Bank, there is a violent mad man and another , who is always seated calmly under an uncompleted building facing the road. The man is always writing. A
closer watch had shown that he does not write English but strange alphabets. He hardly speaks to anybody except in Hausa language. There is a man who visits him occasionally.
The other dangerous group of beggars are made up of Ar­abs, believed to have illegally migrated from Chad and Ni­ger Republic. These illegal immigrants usually have their children who do the begging. There have been cases where this category of
beggars were said to have been involved in various crimes. With the menace of Boko Haram the dangers as­sociated with allowing such people operate freely is better imagined.
In Aba, around Asa-CKC axis as well as at Bata Junc­tion, few metres from the Aba Town Hall, beggars pose serious danger to the lives of people in the area. A resident, Imen Emmanuel, former employee of Visafone telecommunication, said the menace of beggars is so worrisome that they have posed serious threat to motorists and passersby.
According a former Commis­sioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Ugoeze Joy Alozie, government used to go the extra mile of collaborating with private agencies to make sure that such people are kept off the streets. On his part, the founder of Divine Voice Min­istries, Aba, Apostle Kate Em­manuel described the gathering of destitutes around the Bata Junction as a disgrace which must be stopped. He also spoke of the menace of York, Aba Tex­tile Mill and Down Below with the attendant crime record.
The industrial town of Nnewi is particularly unique because the streets and markets of town are devoid of mentally invalid people as is the case in many metropolitan cities of its status.
The so called mad people are few and known. Interestingly, one cannot even in all sincerity call them mad people because they speak intelligently during interactions. The beggars have in recent time turned to motor parks and churches to a battle ground where they try to out­do one another in their special trade for survival.
Then, there are some other class of beggars who dressed very well and actually travel with the bus. They buy tickets like any other passenger and the moment the journey is com­menced, they lead the travelers on a heart rendering prayer ses­sions, after which their motives is unveiled, begging. They tell emotional stories of how they meet their misfortune and be­fore long, people will start giv­ing them alms. When they get to their destination, they buy a return ticket and the same pro­cess is repeated all day.
Banks and churches are also not spared. A banker with one of the commercial banks who would not want his name in print, said that the development is such a worrisome because it remains a major security risk to bank customers.
General Manager of Eastern Mass Transit, Sir Chidi Onuma­juru blamed the government at all levels for neglecting the less privileged and the poor. He said motor parks are a kind of haven for the destitute as they live on the goodwill of people who are traveling.
Similarly, the Director of Jus­tice, Development, Peace Com­mission (JDPC) of the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, Very Rev. Fr. Damian Obi, observed that several people are suffering and blamed the system which en­sures that the rich keeps getting richer, while the poor keeps get­ting poorer. He also urged the government at all levels to come up with programs to take care of the needy in the society as it is done in other climes.
Said he: “It was a taboo to beg in Igboland. People would al­ways support their own not to be beggars but empower such people but things have changed now and that is why you see many people asking for alms. I hate to call them beggars. All those people you see outside have come to us for assistance: some for house rent, some for food, some for hospital bills and there is this young woman among them with twins, we have to do what we can to assist them.
An Onitsha based social cru­sader and founding member of the All Progressives Grand Al­liance (APGA) Chief Ojinnaka Emengo described the problem of high number of social misfits, mad people and beggars cur­rently swarming the nation’s cit­ies as a universal crises.
According to him, “there is no society without such people. However, the large number of such people on our streets today shows the level of decay in our nation.”
on his part, Dr. Ramas Okoye Ezeoba, Aka Ji Ofo Ndigbo, saw the increasing number of mentally unstable and beggars on the streets as evidence of mental torture, frustration and the widespread high economic hardship in the country. He urged government to make ad­equate provision for such peo­ple as allowing them to roam the streets remains risky to the psyche of young ones as some spread diseases and other forms of social and economic contam­ination of the people and the en­vironment.
Describing them as part of the society hence need protec­tion, provision and care, Chike Moma, a professor of Sociology from the University of Pennsyl­vania, USA, currently holiday­ing in Enugu, , calls for a synergy between the governments at the various levels and the families of these unfortunate citizens. According to him a sizeable number of such patients could still be remedied, rehabilitated, treated and re-absorbed useful­ly into the society to contribute in the nation’s building. But it requires utmost care, guide and political will.