Physically Challenged Persons Protest Neglect, Shut Down Delta Capital

 Government and economic activities in Asaba, the Delta State capital, were yesterday crippled as the ever-busy Asaba-Benin expressway was shut down for more than seven hours by physically challenged persons. The physically challenged were protesting what they described as the gross insensitivity of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s administration to their plight.

The more than one thousand protesters were organized by the Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD), Delta State chapter. Their spokespersons decried their non-inclusion in the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program, SURE-P, by the state government as well as various municipal administrations.

As the protest brought traffic to a virtual halt, numerous state officials, including Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ovuozorie Macaulay, the special assistant to Mr. Uduaghan on disability and security agents made desperate efforts to persuade the protesters to leave the highway, but to no avail. The demonstrators demanded that Governor Uduaghan come out to address them on their issues.

 As early as 11 a.m., the physically challenged protesters, including boys and girls, had barricaded the expressway, stalling traffic for commuters traveling to or from Benin and Lagos.
The state chairman of JONAPWD, Obruche Isaac Omor, and its secretary, Philomena Konwea, spoke to our correspondent about their various grievances. They demanded that the Delta State assembly should immediately pass a disability bill.

“We need 5% SURE-P of the Federal, state and local governments. We need our own commission, we need our medical healthcare in government hospitals, we need social welfare and security, we need free accessible transport, we need economic empowerment, we need state, local government and ministries’ annual budgets, we need physically challenged special advisers in state and local governments, we need free housing estates,” the chairman said, adding, “we need Delta State House of Assembly to pass our disability bill, we need a transportation scheme.”

A mild drama ensued after several hours of the gridlock when Ifeanyi Uba, the chairman of Capital Oil and a governorship candidate in Anambra state, appeared with a long convoy of vehicles but found the road blocked. The controversial moneybag, who said he had a flight to catch, talked to the state chairman of the protesters and reportedly offered a cheque of N20 million to them, but the protesters rejected it. One of them described Mr. Uba’s cheque as a ploy, adding that, if they had allowed him to pass, he would have called his bank to deny payment of the cheque.

An aide to the state government disclosed that the protesters were lucky, explaining that the presence of journalists restrained security officials from “dealing severely with these people who are portraying the [Uduaghan] administration in bad light.”

A few days ago, physically challenged protesters shut down activities in the Ughelli North local government council of Delta State. The protesters said they wanted to draw attention to the callous neglect of the council’s transition committee chairman, Friday Akpoyibo, to their plight. The Ughelli protesters, who were more than seventy, also condemned their exclusion from the council’s SURE-P. The protesters, who besieged the main gate of the municipal secretariat as early as 7:45 a.m., denied council staffers access to the building. They also attempted to vandalize the van of the council’s chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE). The police in Ughelli, led by Divisional Police Officer Gardo Garaji, intervened to restore calm.

Ernest Igbuzor, the chairman of the Ughelli North local government chapter of the physically challenged, accused the council boss of failing to pay the N1.5 million that was approved to meet a proposal pushed by his association. He said the council chairman had assured them a few months ago that the council had approved their proposal, adding that, “he has been making unfulfilled promises on when to pay the money. Recently he told us he would give us the money in June. When I called him again he said July.” He stated that when members of the association arrived at the council headquarters last Tuesday, the chairman “behaved as if he didn’t even notice us. We tried to catch his attention and he was just walking away. When he managed to answer us, he said we should come today only for us to get here this morning and we were told he traveled.

“As indigenes of Ughelli North local government area, we have our rights and privileges. The Delta State House of Assembly passed a bill that 5% of every empowerment opportunity should be given to us. We were therefore shocked to know that none of our members was included by the council chairman in the implementation of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program.”

The association also recently demonstrated at the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) to protest the reported embezzlement of N40 million meant for their welfare.
Source