A saying that some issues are better experienced than imagined is apt in relation to the case with the standard of living that persons with disabilities have in this nation. Faced with neglect from those who should care, most disabled Nigerians are unarmed and unequipped to fend for themselves. A critical look by the LEADERSHIP SUNDAY reveals that persons with disability in Nigeria hope on the yet to be signed bill to better their lot in the country. Chibunma Ukwu and Kehinde Ajobiewe write.
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He is a vibrant young man but a cripple. The most fascinating feature of him is his patriotic nature which shows in the way everything about him, ranging from clothes, wheel chair, clutches, shoes, mobile phone and even his teeth were in the Nigerian colours of green and white.
Attached to his wheel chair are the pictures of the President, Goodluck Jonathan and the vice president, Arc. Namadi Sambo with a bold inscription that reads; “REMEMBER YOUR PROMISES…”
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Speaking with the young man who identified himself as Sani Ibrahim, LEADERSHIP SUNDAY was told of the challenging hard lives which persons with disabilities encounter daily.
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According to him, life as a physically challenged person is not an easy one. He stated that they are treated with disdain in the society. Majority of them resort to begging on the streets in an effort to survive.
Sani indicated their hatred for street begging which is the reason they solicit support and empowerment from the President, Goodluck Jonathan . This he contended, will aid them to desist from street begging.
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“We don’t like begging on the streets. It is a disgrace both to our nation and other Nigerians.”
Speaking further, he noted his decision to create awareness in any little way he can, so as to be of help to other disabled Nigerian youths who are out there and in dire need of it.
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Sani who hails from Kano State, expressed his hope in the bill which the Association of Persons with Disabilities (NAOPWD) had moved for, noting that the bill when passed into law will enhance living for them.
Should financial commission come along with the bill, Sani revealed his plans to engage in such businesses as sales of computer accessories, phone accessories and sales of recharge cards.
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In same approach, Bala Dahur who got crippled in childhood by Polio, opened up to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY how he had been in the streets begging for a very long period of time till God led his steps to the Para-Soccer team where he has been getting assistance and training in sports which helped him to discontinue begging on the streets. He went on to call on the government to come to their aid stressing that they too are Nigerians.
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On how they cope with feeding at the Para- Soccer training school, the coach, Mr Umaru Jimba stated that they fend for themselves as well as pay their school fees with the little money that they make from the petty trades which few of them are into. The petty trades include laundry businesses, sales of stationeries, and recharge cards amongst others. However, he acknowledged that the money is not enough as most of them have families thus, the responsibility to cater for them as well. It is on this note that they hope on the bill revealing that it will facilitate most disabled to get education through which they could live and participate better as fellow Nigerians.
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He went further to plead to Nigerians to show more kindness and friendliness to persons with disabilities.
“People run from persons with disabilities either because they think that their disability is caused by one disease or the other but most of them were due to wrong injections which were administered to them. The physically challenged are not aggressive either as some would think. Some of us that are close to them will tell that they are one of the best set of people to be with”.
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Explaining further, Jimba said that the manner in which the disabled are being neglected informed his decision to work closely with them and that through the sports activities they are engaged in, they are helped to take their minds off some problems of life. “The fact that they are disabled does not mean they should be left to feel as though they do not have any future”.
It is in the light of the problems enumerated that some patriotic people with disabilities have decided to establish businesses that will equip their counterparts and give them a stand in the society.
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The National President and founder of Centre for Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, Mrs. Omotunde Ellen Thompson, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that the decision of the association of people with disabilities to establish businesses to empower themselves, is a good idea considering the challenges they are facing in the country.
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Thompson said it will serve as an avenue for people with disabilities to develop their potentials and guide them towards career education and at the same time identify their areas of interest. According to her, “this type of business can stand as a guarantor for anyone with disabilities going to get loan from the bank, which has been one of our greatest challenges, banks do not grant loans to persons with disabilities because they often look at their disabilities to disqualify them and thereby ignore what they can contribute to the society.”
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She added that this initiative would level the playing ground for people with disabilities and even the overwhelming number of unemployed graduates among them, considering the rate of unemployment in the country even though white collar jobs are not meant for everybody.
She also said that the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) is trying its best to the extent of going to the grassroots to train some uneducated ones among them.
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She said no one can be an island on his own. However, she regretted that it is not everyone that is being carried along in national activities.
Thompson added that if other organisations can emulate what the NDE is doing in their perception and acceptance of people with disabilities, street begging and unemployment will drastically reduce.
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On his own part, the national secretary of the Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities (NAOPWD), Hon. Dandison Hart spoke extensively on the bill.
He asserted that passing the bill into law is one major way the government can offer tangible help to persons with disabilities.
According to him, the bill will make provision for education, employment, health care facilities, and vocational skills training accessible to persons with disabilities. Giving an example to the challenges that confront the disabled in the health care sector, he told of how a deaf pregnant woman lost her life.
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“A deaf pregnant woman in a rural area went to the hospital for medical attention. Because she was deaf, dumb and not educated, she was using signs to communicate her problems. Though the health officials responded, they treated her on something else altogether and this resulted to her death. Situations like this could be averted if persons with disabilities are provided with special health care facilities and personnels that identify with their conditions”.
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Speaking on education and other areas that affect them, Hon. Hart disclosed that the bill will ensure that the educational sector will absorb persons with disabilities in its system. Schools would be furnished with facilities that will aid learning for the deaf and the blind.
On other areas that they seek attention on, he affirmed that their organisation wants every official high-rise building in the society to ensure easy movement in their building for disabled persons enlightening on those cases from the pasts where disabled individuals fell off from climbing the stairs thereby compounding further the health problems they may have been having.
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“There should be lifts in public structures that could carry a disabled person either in his wheel chair or with his crutches. The lift at the National Human Rights Commission is a good example.” He said.
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Therefore he continued, the bill is comprehensive and dealt on various issues regarding the well being of persons with disabilities and when signed by the President, the bill will be a major relief as we do not see other areas where the government will greatly assist us aside the points we raised in the bill.
Describing how much NAOPWD needs the bill to be signed, Hon. Hart regretted that most of the problems that they encounter would not have escalated if government agencies had created employments for them. Citing an organisation as the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) as an example, Hon.
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Hart revealed that these organisations do not have departments for the disabled. In his words, there should be disability desks in offices, even at the ministries as they serve as liaison desks between persons with disabilities as it relates to each ministry, department and agencies.
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He re-emphasised that government cannot do much for them except through the substantial means as the one on the ground. Intensifying on this, he noted that there had been a time the government attempted taking beggars off the streets. He revealed that they were taken to a rehabilitation centre in Kubwa. However, they were not provided with enough food as sometimes, they were fed once in a day. To worsen the issue, all of them were kept in a place with people with mental disorder which led to a chaotic situation thereby forcing most of the beggars back to the streets. But with the pending bill, he affirmed that they would care for themselves efficiently.
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He also spoke on the rehabilitation centres that they have in the six geo-political zones which he lamented do not have portable water. He revealed the organisation’s intention to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and other good spirited Nigerians to sink bole-holes in the rehabilitation centres. He appealed to the populace and government agencies to aid them regarding the water problem in the various rehabilitation centre.
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