People with disabilities berate Bauchi govt over alleged neglect

Members of the Bauchi State chapter of the Association of People with Disabilities (APWDs) have berated the state government for distributing food  items and others as palliatives without allocation to them.

They, therefore, called on Governor Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir to as a matter of urgency, investigate how the items, including some amount of money were distributed across the state by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management.

The spokesperson of the APWDs, Abdullahi Isma’il, while reacting to stories of completion of distribution of palliatives by the ministry as published on various media, stated that, “But it’s sad that the vulnerable group and persons with disabilities didn’t get their own part of the palliatives.”

“We’re the people to be considered first before any creature in the state. We were first advised to be patient and that the palliatives will reach us after the  committee had distributed the palliatives to all the 20 local governments area in the state before they came to us instead of considering us first

“We patiently accepted the decision, but, at last, nothing was given to us. Only those few members that they selected during the inauguration of the palliatives were given. After the inauguration, the distribution to our members stopped,’’ he said.

“We thank the governor for releasing the palliatives for persons with disabilities, but let him know that it didn’t reach us,’’ he said.

“The committee also failed to include persons with disabilities to work with them.

“Finally, I would like to use this medium to advise the state government to conduct special census for persons with disabilities through the agency,” he said.