Children who are out of school have become a regular ugly sights around some notable colonies in Uyo metropolis of Akwa Ibom State.
With dirty and torn clothes, they could easily be distinguished amongst the mentally-deranged adults ravaged by illicit drugs.
They clustered together, seeking menials like disposing wastes for cheap pay. They hover around joints, popularly called “Mama Put” where they are made to wash dishes in return for leftover food and petty cash.
They dot the capital with begging bowels and dirty the metropolis especially some public spaces with faeces and rag clothes.
Many of the children, according to Pastor Stephen Akwaowo, “have been initiated into pedestrian cultism and illicit drugs indulgence.”
“The other day, I was sitting with a friend, relaxing at the Ibom Plaza to share some thoughts on the prevailing hardship in the country.
“Suddenly, I was shocked to see a cluster of children between 13 and 16, shaking, clicking and clutching their fingers at the edge of their fingers the way cultists do, and I wondered what the world is turning into,” he recalled.
He, therefore, blamed the government and other relevant agencies including the Ministries of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Humanitarian Affairs and the office of the First Lady of the State for being insensitive to the plights of street children, lunatics and orphans left to roam freely.
“The administration of Governor Umo Eno, has invested so much to reposition the tourism sub – sector as another alternative revenue driver, away from the crude oil proceeds.
“But the ugly sights of drugs – induced lunatics, some in total nude and dirty looking children in rag clothes have totally defaced the capital and rubbish the most vaunted Akwa Ibom as the cleanest and safest state in Nigeria,” Linus Akpan, a tourism entrepreneur noted.
But the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs. Inibehe Silas, painted an apparent hopeless picture of the ugly situation being salvaged.
Speaking at the joint media chat by Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) designed to elucidate on the achievements of the administration’s three years in office, she blamed the influx of lunatics on neighbouring states, who ferried their mad family people into the state.
In the same vein, the Commissioner for Information, Dr. Aniekan Umanah, who expressed concern over the out – of – school children cases, reminded parents that the Child Right Act (CRA) enacted and domesticated amongst the body of State’s laws was still in place.
