Mohammed Ibrahim is the chairman of The Blind Hausa People’s Association of Oyo State. In this interview by KANGMWA GOFWEN, he speaks about some of their challenges, their expectations from government and how they contribute to nation building in their little way.
Your union, the Blind Hausa People’s Association is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) what is it about?
Why we started this association is because we have been here in Ibadan for a long time, we felt that it would not be nice that we are not a registered association. So, we decided to register the association, I personally went to the court and looked for the lawyer that put us through the registration process. All the Hausa leaders are aware of the association; even our Hausa leader in Shasha, Mallam Haruna Maiyasin said it is a good initiative. And that was how we struggled God helped us and we got our CAC registration in 2020. We did everything in line with government regulations. We even gave the local government chairmen of Akinyele and Ibadan North copies of the registration certificate. Like I said, we felt it was good that we registered the association which we did and I am the leader with others assisting me. That is basically why we registered the association.
How many members do you have now?
We have over 100 members here in Sabo and all of them have an identity card issued by the association and they are all registered voters. This number does not cover other members in Moniya and other parts of Oyo State but I can tell you that we have a large number.
Apart from begging, what other work do members of the association do?
Before we left where we were sitting around the golf club, most of us were not begging on the street; we were just sitting. Though, our wives and children that are not blind had little businesses there before government moved us. As you can see, we are just sitting here while our children do small businesses and other menial jobs around and if anyone decides to come here and give us alms we take it, that’s all. But since we were moved, our situation really changed. We can no longer afford our children’s school fees for those in secondary school.
Does the philosophy of the association include your children’s education?
It is definitely part of it. We need assistance, we are not strong and you know how school is, one must have money for that. We have lots of children that are in secondary school, I have two but last term one of them couldn’t sit for his exams because I did not have the money to pay. Now, he is working with someone as a Point of Sale (POS) agent and he is hoping to save some money and go back to school again. You see, that place the government provided for us at Akinyele is an opened hall, not suitable for a family setting.
Do you have any health programme to assist members regain their sight?
It is part of our desire but you know whatever you want to do as non-indifene, it would definitely be slow. We gave the lawyer that helped us register the association enough copies of the certificate because we do not have means to get to the government but we felt he might have access to them so we gave him copies of the certificate to assist us get it to the government while we hope that this could bring forth programmes like this. But up until now we are just hoping and wishing that the association is recognised so we can get assistance like this. Since we registered the association we got support just once and it was an individual that sent us some money but we need more recognition, support and assistance from all quarters of government. Certainly, our health is important and we desire to have programmes or partnership in this area as well.
Are all the trustees of the association your members?
All of us are blind except the secretary. We picked him because he will be writing for us; but all of us are blind. The late Sarkin Hausawa here in Sabo and our leader in Shasha, Haruna Maiyasin, signed as guarantors for the association. Mallam Haruna Maiyasin is the head of all the Hausa leaders in the South West; we met him before the registration and after the registration as well.
Do you have branches of this association in every Local Government in the State?
We have not gone to other Local Governments yet and that is because whatever one is going to do will require money. You see, bringing our people together in the local level will entail spending. We actually want to register our people in all the local governments but we do not have the capacity to do so. Since we left the area where we were sitting, life became very difficult for us, even if we go there now to sit, those that can see will over power us when people bring us alms and that is the only means for us now to get little resources to go by. Before the government asked us to leave the golf club area, we were orderly and law abiding people, no one tried to overshadow the other. We even had contacts from the police that we report any oppression, it was a lot better back then but it is different now.
If we had a vehicle that would convey us to these local governments it would have been a lot easier, and that is one area we wish the government can assist us because we have members in all the local governments from Oyo to Ogbomoso and all the rest.
Does this association also exist in the North and do you collaborate with them?
This association is one of its likes in the 19 Northern states including the FCT and we are in communication with all of them. The 19 Northern states have this association and they are aware we exist.
As an association what are your expectations from government?
You see our counterparts in the North have access to the government; their leaders have access to the governor, speaker and even local government chairmen in all the Northern states but it is quite different for us here. We wish to have that access to the government so we can voice our challenges but that has not been possible. We do not even know the chairman of the Yoruba extraction of blind people and he also does not know us. And you see whatever the government will do will be for his people first. We wish to know the chairmen of the blind associations of all the South West states so we can collaborate with them.
We also have children here, and all our children were born here and they are schooling here as well. We did not allow them to be idle. This is one area that we need government support because we do not want them be beggars like us in the near future. We need medical assistance as well, we also need a vehicle to enable us convey corpses to the cemetery whenever we lose a member.
What are your contributions to the development of the state?
Our greatest contributions are our prayers. If you come here in the night you would meet over 100 of us praying for the government, for our businesses, family and the peace of this country. It is God himself that asked that we pray to Him so we are confident that he will answer if not all our prayer, he will answer some of them. So, that is our support for the government and while doing that, we are peaceful and law abiding citizens under this government, so we expect the government to assist and support us in return.
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