By Tony Okafor, Awka
Visually impaired persons and other persons with disabilities in Anambra State have begged the state governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, for palliatives following the removal of petrol subsidy.
Describing their conditions as precarious at a time like this, the group enjoined the state government to make exclusive plans for them in the circumstances.
The group made their petition through its leadership platform – Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) Anambra State Chapter.
Recall that the Federal Government recently unveiled plans to cushion the economic hardship that the removal of the petrol subsidy would occasion on the people.
The National Economic Council (NEC) followed it up by revealing that the subsidy palliative would be disbursed using state-generated social registers.
Consequently, some State Governments had come up with measures to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal on the people.
Some of such stated had announced payment of N10,000 monthly for public sector workers, some allowances for medical personnel, and occasional distribution of food to the poor and most vulnerable households as well as free transportation for students of tertiary institutions.
However, the Anambra State Government is yet to make public its plans and measures for such a scheme in the state.
Apparently prompted by the Anambra State noncommittal pronouncement on the matter, the disabilities community enjoined the governor to be sensitive and inclusive when he would decide to set up the scheme in the state.
Speaking at Abagana during a workshop organized for the blind and visually impaired, the JONAPWD Chairman, Ugochukwu Okeke, enjoined the State Government not to ignore his members in the proposed palliative scheme and package.
Okeke said, “We want the state government to make their plan inclusive. What I mean by the inclusive plan is to make sure that if they are setting up any committee for any palliative disbursement, they should make sure they largely accommodate persons with disabilities because we are the worst hit of this economic crisis Nigerians are facing.
“We request that the government should make all its plans inclusive so that persons with disabilities will not be left behind.
“If the Government is planning for the people, they should get us involved. The era of Government thinking for us has gone. They should bring us to the table so that we tell them exactly what we want and how we want it.
“Government might be thinking of doing A for us. They might think that A will be good for us without knowing that the B aspect of it is the one that will be more suitable for us.
“The best thing is to bring us to the table and ask us how we want them to meet our needs.”
Noting that the subsidy removal had particularly affected his members, Okeke said, “Some of our meetings are no longer taking place because some of our members cannot afford the transportation fare to come to our various meeting points. That meeting is helping us a lot to be able to assess our members’ needs.
“For the past three months now, we have not been able to meet because our members could not afford the high rate of transportation. If it can affect some of us that are working to that extent, how much more some of us that are not doing anything even in terms of feeding?”
He urged the governor to begin the intervention with the less privileged, vulnerable groups, and persons with disabilities to make the programme more effective.
