Drama as Persons with Disability sealed off NDDC for 48 hrs
….Demand N7million to celebrate December 3
They milled around in their wheelchairs and crutches, virtually laying a siege at the gates of the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, on Aba Road Port Harcourt.
As if barricading the gates was not enough, the physically challenged persons blocked both sides of the very busy Port Harcourt-Aba expressway, at the heart of the Garden City.
The unwanted visitors came under the auspices of the National Association of Persons with Disability, Bayelsa State Chapter, and more or less set up camp at the gate of the NDDC for two days.
The protesters not only paralysed business activities at the commission as workers and visitors were prevented from accessing the offices in the Commission’s headquarters, they also disrupted vehicular movement on both sides of the very busy Aba Road for several hours.
The President of the group, Mr. Emotonye Azikiwe, said they were at the commission’s head office to demand the sum of N3million promised them during a recent courtesy visit of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities to the NDDC Managing Director, Mr. Nsima Ekere.
Azikiwe complained that some of them came from different states in the Niger Delta, and therefore, needed to be assisted with some money for transport to return to their various destinations.
Curiously, the Bayelsa group came barely three weeks after the NDDC Managing Director, Mr. Ekere played host to the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, JONAPWD, at the commission’s headquarters.
During the visit of the umbrella group, which also witnessed the presentation of automated mobility and hearing aids to people living with disabilities in the region, the NDDC Managing Director formally recognised JONAPWD as the umbrella platform for people living with disabilities in the region.
At that occasion, Ekere had expressed delight at the unification of the diverse groups claiming to represent the interest of the people living with disability.
He said: “I am happy that you have come together to engage the NDDC as a unified group. Now that you are together, we will engage better.”
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer then stated that the Commission’s Directorate of Youths, Sports, Culture and Women Affairs was fully mobilised to engage with people living with disabilities, through JONAPWD. He also directed that they be accommodated in the various skills acquisition programmes being rolled out by the NDDC.
It was, therefore, surprising that shortly after the engagement with the unified body, other splinter groups are still coming to the NDDC to make all kinds of demands.
In the latest incident, all kinds of people with disability were off-loaded at the NDDC gate by as many as 14 buses from Bayelsa State.
They ambled all over the place in their wheel chairs and crutches, waving placards with different inscriptions. One of the messages read: “We want skill acquisition training for physically challenged people.”
Other placards and banners indicated that the physically challenged persons were protesting perceived neglect and abandonment by the NDDC.
The barricade of Aba Road resulted in a serious traffic gridlock that hurt Port Harcourt residents and those doing businesses in the state capital. Many vehicles had to divert to other routes while passengers had to resort to trekking for long distances.
In an interview with The Daily Times at the NDDC gate, on Wednesday, Chairman of the Niger Delta Great Minds Foundation of People with Deformities, NDGMFPD, Bayelsa State Chapter, Mr. Duoduo Binaebi, said that they were not part of the three groups which the commission agreed to give N3million, during a joint visit.
Binaebi demanded that NDDC pay the groups N7million to enable them celebrate December 3, set aside by the United Nations as World Day for People with Disability.
He said the Commission should provide support for people living with disabilities in the region, adding that apart from the N7million, they also needed wheelchairs and other mobility aids to enable them fend for themselves.
Another person on wheel chair, Mr. Faith Joyful, said that those of them in Bayelsa State did not benefit from the mobility aids distributed by the NDDC.
He insisted that they would continue to barricade the NDDC gates until the management did the needful.
Reacting to the development, the Director of Corporate Affairs of NDDC, Mr. Ibitoye Abosede, assured of the Commission’s commitment to providing necessary support for members of the group to earn sustainable living.
He said that the claims of the physically challenged persons were baseless, stating that the NDDC would not have any dealings with any splinter group or faction in the guise of people living with disabilities.
He added that all machinery had been put in place to address the plight of people living with disabilities in the region.
The antics of the protesting groups is disconcerting to the NDDC, especially because they had just recently been given mobility and hearing aids.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer, while handing over the items, which included 80 automated wheel chairs, 80 sensor guide canes, 80 German magnifier hearing aids and 40 crutches, remarked that some physically challenged people were very talented and gifted.
He stated that what such people needed was opportunities and support to live meaningful and sustainable lives.
He said: “The days of sympathy are over. NDDC will collaborate with people with disabilities and support them. We will take you to a level where you can realise your full potentials.
“What I will like to see is a situation where people with disabilities own cars and employ drivers. To achieve this, however, you need to have a business that will give you sustainable income. We will support you to achieve this,” he had promised.
Ekere said that the NDDC Directorate of Youths, Sports Culture and Women Affairs was fully mobilized to engage with people living with disabilities to determine the best ways to help them through special entrepreneurship trainings.
He advised: “Coming to NDDC to protest will not achieve any positive result. Proper engagement is the only way to get NDDC’s attention and get benefits for people living with disabilities.”
Meanwhile, the president of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, Mr. Sokari Akpila, appealed to the NDDC to create avenues for skill acquisitions for persons with disabilities so as to enable them build the needed capacity for self-employment.
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He said that many people with disabilities find that their situations affect their chances of going to school, working for a living and participating as equals in social life. He lamented that physically challenged people experience discrimination from birth, or from the moment of becoming disabled.
Akpila noted that disabled persons in the Niger Delta region were among the most vulnerable groups in the world, as they were prone to recruitment into armed conflicts and militia activities, prostitution, child labour, and other forms of modern-day slavery.
He appealed to the NDDC to assist in organising sporting activities, especially wheelchair basketball, to create unity among the disabled community in the Niger Delta region and create awareness to end all forms of abuse against persons with disabilities.
Amaka Agbu, Port Harcourt.
