The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has said that his administration is committed to trying its best in ridding the state of mentally challenged people through concrete rehabilitative programmes.
Aregbesola said that apart from the treatment and rehabilitation of mentally challenged people, government is not relenting in his efforts at reducing or eradicating the rate of unemployment and tension, which according to him, are some of the causes of mental illness.
The governor spoke in Osogbo, the state capital, on Tuesday while receiving the Care and Rehabilitation of Mentally-ill People Foundation team, led by the former Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof. Roger Makanjuola, in his office.
According to him, as expensive as their treatment is, the present administration is concerned about mentally-ill people, considering the fact that they are part of the society and the danger they posed to the society at large.
He said: “It is not that we have surplus resources that we are doing what we are doing to treat and rehabilitate them, but we feel that they are part of the society and we are concerned about the danger they pose to the society when they finally escape.
“One of the factors that facilitate this illness is the tension and stress that unemployment could cause and we are addressing that in a broad way through series of our programmes.
“It is to me a simple routine of basic responsibility as a government that we are doing what we are doing, but this is not without a huge cost.
“I have to mention that we are stressing ourselves and our meagre resources to do all that we are doing for the betterment of the people of this state.”
The governor then asked the CAREMI foundation to assume consultancy role for the management of the rehabilitation centre in Ilobu, which, he said, has reached 95 per cent completion.
Earlier in his remark, Prof. Makanjuola said that his foundation decided to partner with the state government having observed its seriousness in the initiation of the programme for the care and rehabilitation of the mentally challenged.
He said that apart from the treatment, the foundation was also impressed with the rehabilitation centre being put in place, confirming that the centre is nearly completed.
The CAREMI boss then suggested that the programme should be taken up at a regional level, as mentally ill people were being imported to the state due to the efforts of the Osun State Government on their care.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Youths, Sports and Special Needs, Comrade Biyi Odunlade, said that the government has treated and rehabilitated not less than 40 mentally ill people.
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