RSG Raids Street Destitudes, Nabs 113

More than 113 destitutes have been moved from the streets of Port Harcourt metropolis following raid by a Special Committee on Raiding of Vagrants Lunatics and Street Beggars in the Rivers State Ministry of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation.
Chairman of the committee, Mr Mina Jamabo gave the figures during an exclusive with The Tide yesterday, stressing that the ministry has evolved measures to ensure that the menace of the presence of lunatics and beggars was cut to the barest minimum within the state.
While attributing the menace to high use of illicit drugs and rigours of city life, Mr Jamabo added,” Port Harcourt, just like other prominent cities as Lagos, are terminus cities, so everything is pushed down here’’.
He explained that the terminus status of the city of Port Harcourt was responsible for the influx of lunatics and beggars, but noted that the ministry has evolved measures to curb it, disclosing that the raiding would be continuous rather than occasional.
’’Our plan is working because most of the non-indigenous communities have started working with us such that when we want to repatriate some people they assist us’’, Jamabo revealed.
Jamabo said those arrested will first be rehabilitated at the Iriebe welfare centre after which non-indigenes are repatriated back to their states of origin.
“ For the indigenous ones, we try to reach out to their families while they undergo treatment, but the vagrantly violent ones are sent to the assylum.’’
However he expressed worry that most of those repatriated, especially the beggars find their way back to the city because of the patronage they enjoy.
But in order to check this problem, he disclosed that the committee would recommend long term measures to the Commissioner, Mr Joe Poroma, whom he praised for the initiative.
Some of the long term measures, Jamabo stated, include establishing of four more workshops at the rehabilitation centre, Iriebe, to cover Information and Communication Technology Training(ICT), catering, fashion designing, carpentry, among others.