The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Ebonyi State Chapter, has called on the state government to urgently establish a coordinated intervention for persons with apparent mental-health challenges living or roaming the streets of Abakaliki, including medical assessment, rehabilitation and safe relocation where necessary.
The council also urged the state Ministries of Environment and Internal Security to intensify environmental sanitation, waste evacuation and security monitoring across the state capital, warning that the growing presence of vulnerable persons and accumulation of refuse in parts of the metropolis required prompt official attention.
The NYCN Chairman, Comrade Douglas Ochishi, made the demands while addressing journalists at the council's office at Pa Ngele Oruta Township Stadium, Abakaliki.
Ochishi said the increasing number of vulnerable persons on major streets of the metropolis had implications for public safety, sanitation and orderly urban development, stressing that government intervention should prioritise both public welfare and the dignity of the affected persons.
He called for the establishment of mechanisms to identify persons with mental-health challenges, subject them to appropriate medical assessment and provide rehabilitation and other forms of support.
According to him, where removal from the streets becomes necessary, it should be undertaken through lawful and humane procedures rather than indiscriminate eviction.
The youth leader also urged the relevant authorities to strengthen monitoring at the state's entry points to determine how vulnerable persons were being moved into Abakaliki.
He further called on security agencies to investigate reports of the possible movement of vulnerable persons into the state capital during the night and establish whether individuals or groups were involved in transporting, abandoning or exploiting them.
Ochishi said government agencies should work with health and social-welfare authorities to ensure that persons found on the streets received appropriate intervention.
The NYCN chairman's call comes against the backdrop of previous interventions by the Ebonyi State Government concerning vulnerable persons and people living on the streets.
In 2024, the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development said it was working with the Ministry of Health and Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, to provide treatment for persons with mental-health challenges found on the streets.
Turning to environmental sanitation, Ochishi urged the Ministry of Environment to intensify waste evacuation and routine environmental monitoring across Abakaliki.
He specifically identified areas around Kpirikpiri, opposite St Patrick Catholic Church, the rear of the International Market around Lots 2 and 3, as well as adjoining streets, as areas requiring urgent attention because of accumulated refuse.
He also called for regular inspection and desilting of drainage channels and gutters, warning that blocked waterways could worsen flooding and undermine efforts to maintain a clean and orderly capital.
“Regular waste evacuation, proper drainage maintenance and effective environmental monitoring are necessary to maintain a clean, safe and orderly capital city,” he said.
The NYCN chairman maintained that decisive intervention by the relevant ministries and agencies would complement the urban-renewal and environmental-development efforts of the Ebonyi State Government under the People's Charter of Needs administration.
He urged environmental officials, local authorities and security agencies to adopt a sustained rather than episodic approach to sanitation, waste management and the protection of vulnerable persons.
Ochishi said the council would continue to engage relevant authorities on issues affecting young people, public safety, environmental cleanliness and the general development of Ebonyi State.
The call for improved waste management also comes as the state's approved budget provides for environmental interventions, including refuse-related projects and rehabilitation of the refuse final dump site at Ezza Umuoghara.
