PWDs decry neglect, poor representation in Bayelsa

The Southern Ijaw LGA chapter of the Joint Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD) has expressed displeasure over a perceived neglect by political leaders in Bayelsa. 

Salvation Enoch, JONAPWD president, said this on Monday when a delegation paid a courtesy visit to Alagoa Morris, head of the Environment Rights Action (ERA), at the Niger Delta Resource Centre in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital.

He said JONAPWD has been denied access to representatives in government, particularly in the executive and legislative arms, where it hoped to get support.

“If you look at the Southern Ijaw area, we are the most vulnerable people and we have not got the opportunity to speak on issues affecting us as persons with disabilities, especially the neglect that we have been facing,” he said.

“We are less represented in government. We don’t have free access to our representatives for them to understand that we are also existing as persons with disabilities and that our challenges are supposed to be looked into.

“It has been very challenging in our effort to have an audience with them.”

He added that the group has written several letters to various leaders and representatives, but discovered that their letters were never delivered.

“Many of us are less educated. We need JAMB forms and scholarships. We need walking and hearing aids and magnifying glasses. We need skills acquisition,” Enoch said.

“We also need empowerment. Some of us have talents and are also good at bead-making, singing and others.

“We need training programmes. We need employment.”

He said they were supposed to celebrate ‘World Disability Day’, but “nothing happened”.

“We need disability home/office in Southern Ijaw,” he added.

He alleged that PWDs are often brutalised by the police, and appealed to ERA to help present their predicament to relevant authorities.

Morris implored Douye Diri, governor of the state, to address the needs of PWDs in Bayelsa.