By Nofisat Marindoti
There is no doubting the fact that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in the last 8 years has impacted positively in all sectors of the State, ranging from agriculture to health, security, education, transportation to empowerment, another way the Unusual Governor is touching and changing lives is through the Osun Rehabilitation Scheme, O’Rehab.
The O’Rehab started in 2012 with the aim of rehabilitating mentally ill persons and making the society a lot cleaner than it was. In an interview with Osun Defender, the State Commissioner for Social Protection, Sports and Special Needs, Comrade Biyi Odunlade, revealed that the scheme had rehabilitated over 300 mentally ill persons since inception.
According to him, “This programme started in 2012, tagged Osun Destitute Rehabilitation to sanitize the environment and improve healthy living. Mr Governor was inspired by a young man walking around naked, he said it would be a failure on the part of the State Government if such persists. And that was how we started, we later picked up the man, Lawrence, who we discovered was just suffering from frustration and depression.
“Since then, we have rehabilitated 300 persons and treated 170 chronic mental disorder. This is one of the programmes of this Government that has projected our image and integrity because no other State does it, that is, no other State picks persons with mental challenge, takes them to the hospital, treats them and takes them back to their families. Also, we empower these people afterwards, they undergo vocational training and we give them some token to start a business.
“So that is the process, we call it the three R, that is, Retrieval, we retrieve them from the street, we rehabilitate them and we repatriate them. The rehabilitation takes two tranches, the first is that we take them to the hospital when we are certain that they are really mentally challenged then we take them to our rehabilitation center at Ilobu where we assess them, talk to them and make them feel human again.”
Odunlade also listed some of the key cases the scheme had treated, “there was this particular man, Baba Shogo, a Prince, that had been on the street for almost 15 years with an hanniar twice his head and because the hanniar was so big, he was always naked. We picked him up but because the hanniar couldn’t be operated, we gave him a brassiere to package it and you’ll hardly notice it now. After the treatment, he told us he’ll like to go back to his farm, that he loves farming so we took him back home and he’s doing very fine now.
“Also, we got alert of a cleric that was picking people on the street under the pretense of taking them to an orphanage home but was actually killing them and selling them in parts. We raided him and 13 people were discovered. All the mentally ill persons were treated.
“We also have cases that were reported by the relatives of the persons concerned. There was a lady lawyer seeking LLM in OAU who suddenly lost it, we actually found her in midst of her faeces. She was treated and and is now a senior staff with a tertiary institution in the South West.
“There was this other lady, Funke, who was sighted at Ilesa on the Owude festival night, naked with a sore on her leg. We treated her and she’s fine now, she recently invited us to the naming ceremony of her child. Another person we picked from the street was Shaki, who was a terror to the people around the State House of Assembly. Now she is a fashion designer doing well.”
Speaking on the challenges the ministry was facing, Odunlade explained that, “shortage of funds is a major challenge, it’s such an expensive venture though the Governor has been so supportive, he keeps giving us more, he even gives us from his personal pocket.
“Another challenge is ignorance on the part of relatives, it requires everybody to understand that mental illness can be treated just like any other disease. When we started in 2012, the number of mentally ill persons was so high, now the number has reduced drastically.”
Osun Defender also spoke with some of the beneficiaries of the scheme, in her words, Shaki’s mother, Asiyatu Bello said, “I really appreciate Governor Aregbesola, my daughter had been sick for like 20 years during which I couldn’t even move close to her. She was eventually picked from the street in 2013 and was returned to me the following year. They had trained her and she’s earning a living with that now, she is a source of joy to me now.
“The treatment was done free of charge, they didn’t collect anything from me. I cried when I heard Aregbesola will soon leave now, he was purposely sent to make us, especially the poor ones happy. Osun is different now, our minds are now at peace and rest kudos to the unrelenting and hard working Governor.
Musiliu Isiaka, one of the mentally ill persons that was treated also appreciated God and Governor Aregbesola. According to him, “I came to this State from Abuja with my car and then joined a garage here, then I volunteered someone to be the garage Chairman and that is the last thing I can remember. I was begging on the street when O’Rehab officials picked me up. I was treated freely, they didn’t collect a dime from me.”
Also, Ayorinde Abayomi, a civil servant, aged 37, who on a fateful day, suddenly tore his clothes and started walking around naked also narrated his ordeal and his eventual healing, he said, “it started in 2006 when I started hearing strange voices, I then began running around seeking help. I was taken to a church, delivered and then the whole thing stopped.
“But when I got a job in 2009, it started again, I started hearing the voices and one particular morning as I got to the gate of where I work, I stripped myself naked and started walking around. The Governor heard about it and paid for my treatment from his pockets. I spent 3 months there and learnt barbing. I really appreciate Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, he’s a People’s Governor and didn’t come to Osun for selfish interests. With the grace of God, I am very okay now thanks to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.”
Many of these testimonies lay credence to the efforts of Governor Aregbesola not only to put up mechanisms on Infrastructure and Education alone, but the welfare of the people. One could imagine the condition and the situation of these people now and the joy O’Rehab has brought to their households.
The programme has been a rallying point of support and hope for destitutes. The programme does not only help to ward off mentally derailed people from the streets, it also helps in Urban Renewal and a cogent part of the Cleaner and Safer Cities Initiative in the O’Renewal project of the outgoing administration in the State of Osun.
