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We can’t access courtrooms unless we crawl – Nigerian lawyers with disabilities laments

By
Agbo Christian
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Lamenting on how poorly lawyers living with disabilities have been neglected in the legal community the Association of Lawyers with Disabilities in Nigeria (ALDIN) is set to carry out massive advocacy campaign for the accessibility of the Justice administration system to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

In a statement by the president of the ALDIN, Daniel Amaechi Onwe, the campaign is supported by Disabilities Rights Fund and objective of the advocacy is to make the court environment and procedures as well as the policing system to be inclusive of PWDs generally.

According to him a situation where our systems and structures do not accommodate the peculiarities of PWDs is no longer acceptable. PWDs suffer diverse form of injustice, but cannot approach the courts to obtain justice due to the existence of different architectural, attitudinal and procedural barriers.

The trauma of suffering injustice on the one hand and on the other hand realizing that the justice administration system, where you should seek redress, does not even contemplate your existence is unimaginable.

“The situation is even worse with our policing system. The architectural setting in the average police station loudly tells you that PWDs are not welcome there.

“A deaf person, who has a complaint to make at the police station is on his or her own, as there is no provision for sign language interpretation.

Those on wheelchair cannot even enter the police stations in the first place. And those with psycho-social disability who gets to the police station to lodge reasonable complaints may be treated with ignominy or chased away as nuisance.

“The lot of lawyers with disabilities is not even better. Lawyers on wheelchairs cannot access our courts unless they crawl on all fours. Our courts have no provision for Braille, tactile marks or other media of assistive literacy.

“There are no provisions of sign language interpreters either. Rules of Courts and Practice Directions do not make any accommodation for lawyers or litigants with disabilities. Lawyers with disabilities are discriminated against when it comes to employment in chambers and other workplaces. You can imagine the pain of going through all the hog of legal training to become a lawyer, and then be rendered redundant. This ugly situation should stop.

“So, in this project, we shall be strategically engaging the critical stakeholders with a view of collaboratively working out solutions. Every aspect of the project shall be measured and profiled, including the level of responsiveness of each stakeholder engaged. At the end of the day we will come out with an objective report.

“The Association in it’s bid to achieve this goal will be engaging the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, the Chief Judge of the FCT, the Attorney-General or Solicitor-General, the Inspector-General of Police, the Commissioner of Police FCT, the NBA President, the NBA Chairman FCT among others.

“Fortunately, we now have a legal framework to work with – Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act. So, this project is about giving effect to the provisions of this Act. It also aligns with Article 13 of the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, dealing with Access to Justice, and goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), dealing on Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.

The justice administration system is expected to take the lead and show others example with regards to compliance with newly enacted Act and international best practices.

“On the part of the NBA, which is our primary constituency, we are lucky we now have a President who campaigned on issues of PWDs. These were his exact campaign words:

“Another category of lawyers whose welfare I will work towards ameliorating, from a professional standpoint, is that of the aged and disabled lawyers. If I am elected as the NBA President, I will work towards achieving better welfare programmes for these categories of lawyers and generally for all lawyers…

…Persons living with disability and the aged have special needs which unfortunately are not generally catered for in our Nigerian environment. These needs include access facilities into buildings, toilet facilities, specialized reading and legal practice materials and aids, customized technology aids and facilities. My administration as the NBA President will work at installing these facilities at the NBA Secretariat where the model law office would be located.

The model law office at the National Secretariat would also be made friendly to and usable by aged persons and persons living with disability. These facilities would gradually be expanded and provided at the NBA Zonal Offices in the 3 Zones of the NBA.

We would also open dialogue with the Chief Justice of the Federation and the heads of various courts in the Federation and the States on the required modifications for making the courts and the court facilities accessible to and usable by the aged and persons living with disability. More importantly, we shall dialogue constantly with these categories of lawyers to continually understand their needs and how best we can assist in meeting them.”

ALDIN further stated that they intend to collaborate with NBA President, Paul Usoro, SAN, in delivering on this lofty promise.

“We must admit that in the past two years, before the current regime, the NBA has incrementally been accommodating of lawyers with disabilities. This was reflected in the 2017 and 2018 NBA Annual General Conferences. With the kind of promises made by the incumbent NBA President, Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN it is expected that the standard will go no other way, but upwards.

“By the end of this project we are optimistic about having a justice administration system that we all can be proud of and that will better serve the interest of all.

We, therefore, use this medium to, in advance, call for the maximum cooperation of all the relevant stakeholders, as this is a mutually beneficial project that will foster national development.,” he stated (thenigerialawyer.com)

THE NEED TO INCLUDE HAUSA LANGUAGE IN OUR DEAF/SPECIAL SCHOOLS CURRICULUM(ESPECIALLY IN HAUSA SPEAKING COMMUNITIES)

By
Agbo Christian
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By Comr. Yusuf Kumo,

Comr. Yusuf kumo is a Pioneer President, Gombe State Deaf Students Association, GSU Chapter. Writes to The Qualitative magazine from Bauchi state Agency Persons with Disability.

Permit to say that, the biggest challenges we Deaf and Hard of hearing usually encounters especially at home and within the other agents of socialization is mostly Communication Barriers and Isolation.

This Barrier is frequent at home because many parents of the deaf and hard of hearing in the Northern part of the country communicate in Hausa and they are not familiar with English language, but unfortunately majority of the deaf don’t know Hausa and their mother tongues. Why? Simply because most parents hardly teach them Hausa/their mother tongue from childhood just because they are deaf, I’m sorry to say.

The schools which supposed to educate them how to communicate with their hearing counterparts usually teach them only in Manual Sign Language and English language which majority of the parents hardly understands, as a results, deaf people are mostly isolated at home with little or no communication between them and their families because most families in the north unlike the southern parts, hardly communicate in English or sign language while the deaf hardly understands Hausa language.. See the barriers… it’s unfortunate.

Personally, I don’t know Hausa much, I learned few when I was hearing, I had to put pressure on family and siblings to educate me some Hausa words I don’t understands. Up till today there are many Hausa words and sentences I don’t understand. That’s perhaps the reasons I hardly writes or chats in Hausa.

It’s worthy to note that in almost all deaf schools right from primary to secondary they don’t teach Hausa language or any other language except English Manual Sign language which is ASL. If they do, I’m sure that the issues of communication barriers and isolation at home could be minimized because this will give chance for the deaf to communicate with their parents and siblings in Hausa which is the language most parents and siblings understands at home.

I must commend President Muhammadu Buhari for signing this Disability Right Bill in to law, and most importantly the NASS for gazetting it, we are applying for full implementation.

If the Disability Rights Act is implemented, it will ensure the inclusion of Sign language in our schools curriculum. This will be commendable as it will helps (especially the younger generation) to reduce communication barriers between the deaf people and other people. However, this is not enough, deaf people also need to learn in their local languages especially those from the Hausaland, learning also in Hausa language will help them to communicate with their parents and siblings who might not be a beneficiary of the newly inclusive sign language in school curriculum. This will no doubt reduce communication barriers between them and their parents/siblings at home.

In conclusion, I’m using this opportunity to urge my state ministry of education, and most importantly the FMOE to please kindly include Hausa language in our schools curriculum especially in the North/Hausa speaking Communities, Yoruba language in the west and Igbo language in the East which will help minimize communication barriers between the deaf and hard of hearing people and their parents, siblings and the society at large.

Secondly, there is a need to improve Special schools’ facilities, I’m sorry to say that most of our deaf and special schools are in dilapidated, neglected and in dire conditions. I can vividly remember that when the wife of my immediate former Governor visited my former school, Special Education Centre, Gombe, she wept because of the poor facilities and conditions the school is facing. Unfortunately, still little or nothing was done to improve the school thereafter.

Just last week when the Governor of Kwara State Abdulraman Abdulrazak visited his state’s Special School, he was shocked to the extent that he apologized to the special needs pupils over poor State of  facilities in the schools. The Governor In his words,

“now that I have seen things for myself, I know the depth of the problem we have in this sector and we will be responsible in allocating scarce resources.

“We will come back here to ensure that basic standards are met. The truth is that basic needs are not met and it is a shame.

“As a government, we want to apologise to you for living in this kind of condition and we will make sure that minimum standards are met,’’ the governor said.

(reported by Punch newspaper and the Qualitative Magazine)

You can now see we people living with disabilities are suffering all sorts of discrimination, Communication barriers and isolation and our schools suffers negligence and poor welfare and facilities. Please government at all levels and the society at large do the needful.

Konga reach out to the needy, less-privileged through Konga Kares

By
Agbo Christian
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As part of its 7th Anniversary celebration, Konga, Nigeria’s foremost composite e-commerce giant, embarked on a visit to orphanage homes in Lagos and Abuja to spread love to the needy and less-privileged.

The event, which saw Management and staff turn out in their numbers at both locations, was held on Saturday, July 6th, 2019.

The visit was anchored under the auspices of Konga Kares – a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative through which the company has identified with and empowered critical segments of the population in need of a helping hand.

With the theme, Sharing the Konga Love to Help Alleviate Poverty, a visit was made simultaneously to the Heritage Orphanage Homes in Lagos as well as the Abuja Children’s Home, Karu and the Christ Foundation Orphanage Home and Widow Outreach, Abuja.

In their numbers, Executive Management and staff of Konga stormed the orphanage homes with household items, consumables, educational materials and other items to support their physical, mental and emotional needs.

Leading the Lagos team was Co-CEO, Konga Group, Prince Nnamdi Ekeh, who did not fail to engage and interact with the children of the Heritage Orphanage.

Ekeh expressed excitement and satisfaction about the visitation, describing his interaction with the children as an overwhelming experience.

“Giving material support is fantastic but providing opportunities and other forms of empowerment is critical.

“You cannot over-emphasise the generational benefits of creating a life-changing platform which focuses on abandoned and vulnerable children who are future leaders.

“We hope to embark on this kind of visitations on a regular basis and also partner with other institutions that are need of encouragement and empowerment such as skill acquisition which will have great impact in transforming their lives,” Ekeh said.

In Abuja, hundreds of lives were touched at both orphanages as the Konga team put smiles on the faces of children at the centres.

Led by Business Manager (North), Yvonne Enwerem games, Konga made it an enriching experience for the children with several fun activities including musical chairs, card games and board games such as Chess, Checkers, Scrabble and Ludo.

Furthermore, a quiz competition was organised for children within the ages of 7 and 17. Winners of the quiz were rewarded with mouth-watering prizes including Kiddies Tablets and writing materials, among others.

Essentially, the visitation did a lot to lift the moods of the children across all the beneficiary homes and imbue them with hope in a brighter future – a point that was not lost on the recipients.

Mrs. Patricia Agho is Director of the Christ Foundation Orphanage Home, Kuje

“We are so grateful to the management of Konga for this gesture. The happiness and joy on the faces of the children is proof of how delighted we all are. May God bless Konga and continue to elevate the business,” said an obviously elated Mrs. Agho.

Also speaking, Mrs. Attah who oversees the Abuja Children’s Home expressed deep gratitude to Konga, even as she disclosed that the memories of the visit will remain indelible in the minds of the children.

“I am indeed overwhelmed by this show of love from Konga and so are the kids. In fact, I have never seen them this happy. Our appreciation knows no bounds and our prayer is that Konga reaps bountifully from this gesture,” she said.

Through Konga Kares, the company hopes to reach millions of needy, disadvantaged, physically-challenged and voiceless members of the society nationwide and give back in line with its mission of spreading love and alleviating poverty.

Source News Express

NPDC security harassed and thrown out a contractor because he is living with disability

By
Agbo Christian
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Mohammad Musa is a contractor living with disability from Zaria, Kaduna State, he is using a roller skate as his mobility aid. He shared with us his ordeal in the hands of a security man when he went to seek for a contract in the office of NPDC like every other Nigerian. Below is exactly his story.

I was in Benin, Edo State last two weeks, at NPDC (Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Ltd) seeking for a contract. I dropped from a taxi bus within the NPDC cars parking space, I used my roller skate moved straight to the procurement department, from there I headed to the MD office, we were about 30 people at the waiting room wanting to see the MD.

All of a sudden, a security man came and singled me out and asked me to come out.

I came out and he asked me to come downstairs, after I managed to roll down. He asked me if the MD is aware of my coming, I replied yes.

He asked me if I do have a letter from Abuja or somewhere else, I replied no. At this point, I felt embarrassed so I asked him these two questions,

1. why did you picked only me leaving others who are also waiting to see the MD?

2. We are about 30 persons at the waiting room, do they all have such letters?

He ignored me and didn’t care to answer me. At this juncture, I understood that it was all about my disability, I am being subjected to all these questioning and was denied to see the MD just because I am a person with disability.

Mohammed Isa at the gate of NPDC. This picture was taken when he has been forced down to the security post at the gate of the office, beside the chair is the leg of the security man who asked Isa to leave.

To my surprise, they chased me out of the premises to the security post at the gate of the office and asked me to leave. It was painful because I travelled over 800 kilometers from Kaduna to Benin City just to see the MD in the course of struggling like every other person. I call on human rights activists and authorities to look into this matter because security men in the offices have tagged us beggars and are preventing us from carrying out our lawful businesses.

UN says 821 million people are hungry worldwide

By
Agbo Christian
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More than 821 million people suffered from hunger worldwide last year, the United Nations reported Monday — the third year in a row that the number has risen.

Robin Willoughby, the head of food and climate policy at Oxfam GB, said women were hit hardest by the rise in hunger.

“A toxic brew of climate shocks, inequality and conflict is unravelling years of progress,” he said.

“If we are to meet the target of ending hunger by 2030, governments must urgently cut greenhouse emissions, provide more support for small-scale agriculture and increase efforts to end violent conflicts

After decades of decline, malnutrition began to increase in 2015, mainly because of climate change and war. Reversing the trend is one of the 2030 targets of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals which aim to improve the planet and its people.

But getting to a world where no one is suffering from hunger by then remains an “immense challenge,” the report said, noting the number of people without enough to eat had risen from 811 million in 2017.

“We will not achieve zero hunger by 2030,” said David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme, one of the UN agencies contributing to the report.

“That’s a bad trend. Without food security we will never have peace and stability,” said Beasley, deploring that the media carry more talk about Brexit and Donald Trump than children dying of hunger.

He warned that extremist groups were using hunger and control over food supplies as a weapon to divide communities or recruit new members.

“The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” report was produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other United Nations agencies including the World Health Organization.

“To safeguard food security and nutrition, it is critical to already have in place economic and social policies to counteract the effects of adverse economic cycles when they arrive, while avoiding cuts in essential services, such as healthcare and education, at all costs,” it said.

A “structural transformation” was needed to include the poorest people in the world, the authors said.

This would require “integrating food security and nutrition concerns into poverty reduction efforts” while tackling gender inequality and the exclusion of certain social groups, they said.

Malnutrition remains widespread in Africa, where around 20 percent of the population is affected, and in Asia where more than 12 percent of people experience it. In Latin America and the Caribbean, fewer than seven percent of people are affected.

Adding those hit by food insecurity gives a total of more than two billion people, eight percent of whom are in North America and Europe, who don’t regularly have access to enough nutritious, safe food, the report said.

The FAO said current efforts were insufficient to meet the goal of halving the number of children whose growth is stunted by malnutrition by 2030.

National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) shove CRS Rice Seedling Factory to accredit Certification

By
Agbo Christian
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0

By David Peter

Mr. M. J. Usua; South South Regional Coordinator of The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) an agency of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and regulation of the Nigeria seed industry as enshrined in the National Agricultural Seed Act 72 of 1992 shove Cross River State Rice Seedling factory to pin seeds and seedlings certification with the council before its distribution to the rural community’s and state’s in the southern, Nigeria.

Mr. M. J. Usua, The South South Regional Director addressed the Cross State Government in the Stakeholder Sensitization Forum of the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) South South Sensitization in attendance were the; Permanent Secretary, Min. Of Agric, Program Manager, Cross River State ADP, NIRSAL State Cordinator, FADAMA III, State Cordinator and Commodity Associations.

Mr. Usua, who unleashed the NASC council structure to the stakeholders and functions on Seed Coordination and Management Services, Seed Certification, Quality Control, Crop Registration and Varietal Release, Seed Information and Seed Inspectorate appeal to the Cross River State Government and Management of CRS Seedling Factory to pin certification and registration with the NASC as mandatory and constitutional for official recognition. He further expressed; the criteria processes for accreditation unleashing its penalty on defaults organisation in accordance to Section 22 (1) of seeds Act; Section 17 (2) of the seed Act; Section 17 (3) of the seed Act; Section 18 (1) of the seeds Act and Section 27 of the seeds Act.

Usua speaking, “Cross River State is blessed. There’s nothing you can not grow here. The state is venerated with green vegetations and as a Malabite who schooled in the University of Calabar, Cross River State i have great interest for the key agricultural growth of the state. I am ready to welcomed and collaborate with the State Government to boost its agricultural activities”. However, The Cross River State Seedling Factory should obey and abide the law as established in 1992 on the seed act.

Continuing, He said; “Cross River needs to do an official recognition with NASC as  enshrined in Section 22 (1) of the seeds Act, as stated; ” No person Registered under the seed Act shall produce or be engaged in the production, processing and marketing of seeds for commercial purpose (meaning registration with the council is a must)”, He asserted.

Mr. Usua, lengthy expressed; the key relevance of NASC as aimed to analyze and formulate programmes, policies and actions regarding seed development and the seed industry in Nigeria thus advising the Federal Government on the management and financing of seed programmes to recognized and liaise with the certification officer to ensure the seeds for cultivation are pure and verified before its dissemination.

Usua said, “The Management of the Seedling factory should liaise and recognized with the Cross River State Coordinator to ensure the seeds are pure, hybrid and viable”.

 He added; “The distribution of the rice paddy and seedlings should also be verified by our certification officer’s before dispatching to other state or rural regions as constitutional and established in 1992 of the seed acts” to ensure there’s a pure quality and climate friendly seedlings allocation to the various state”.

Mr. Aliyu, The Nigeria Incentives-Based Risked-Sharing System for Agricultural lending (NIRSAL) State coordinator, speak on partnership with the CRS Rice Seeds and Seeding Factory.

Aliyu said; “We have partner with the CRS Rice  Seeds and Seedling Factory and we are ready to work with farming farmers in the field to assist finance on seeds multiplication in Cross River State”. “Howbeit, i urge the Cross State government to seeks for more collaboration with the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) recalling, that a huge finance is awarded for this project so there’s need to have a pure and viable seeds distribution as checkmate by the certification officer’s of National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) a regulatory agency under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to boost and sustain its productivity and regained its financial investment”. Aliyu affirmed.

Mr. Stephen Unuigbe, A representative of National Agricultural Seeds Council sensitize on the penalty of operating contrary to the above regulations.

Stephen speaking; I need to inform you on The penalty for operational defaulters as ranges from warning, stop sales order, fine ranging from 0.8million to 5million, seizure and forfeiting of the seed lot to Federal Government, and finally instituting legal action against the offender which may lead to imprisonment/payment of fine in accordance to Section 27 of seeds Act”, He profess.

The Regional Director Mr. Usua and his representative Mr. Stephen Unuigbe of National Agricultural Seeds Council assured the leadership of Cross River State a huge welcomed to the district office for collaboration and boosting the agricultural potentials in State.

“I thanked you all distinguished stakeholders for attending this meeting and i yen the management of Cross River State to pin certification and legal distribution of seedlings so as to boost the state agricultural potentials and trim illicit awakening distributor in the near future for the effectiveness of a greener pasture.”

“Still and all, we are ready to work and collaborate with the state to exercise of regulatory act”. Usua, said.

Northampton dad completes 1,600 mile run for disabled son

By
Agbo Christian
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0

A father has said there were “really dark moments” in his 1,600 mile run to raise funds for his disabled son.

Lewis Herbert, 16, has Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, which has left him unable to walk or talk and he requires 24-hour care.

His father, Gary, 41, gave up alcohol and set himself a target of 100 miles for every year of Lewis’s life.

So far he has raised £13,000 towards adaptations at their home in West Hunsbury, Northampton.

Mr Herbert said he completed the challenge two months ahead of schedule, running an average of 40 miles every week.

He said: “There have been plenty of really dark moments and countless self-doubts on a weekly basis about whether I would be able to get to, or get anywhere close to, my mileage target.

“It has quite simply been the hardest and most relentless thing I have ever done in my life, and my body has been in absolute bits.”

Gary Herbert
The money raised will go towards an up-to-date wheelchair and adaptations at their home in Northampton

Earl Spencer, who is the patron of the Life for Lewis charity, said it was an “outstanding achievement” and he was “full of admiration” for Mr Herbert.

The campaign has also had support from ex-England and Northamptonshire cricketer Graeme Swann.

Mr Herbert thanked all those who had supported him and said he was “extremely emotional”.

“I can’t quite comprehend it all, but once it’s sunk in it will be an achievement I will be able to look back upon with a tremendous amount of pride, I’m sure,” he said.

Brave girl who rushed into burning house to save her mother living with disability discharged

By
Agbo Christian
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Exactly a year ago, Form Three student Irene Mumbi’s life changed after she ran into a burning house to rescue her mother living with disability. She ended up sustaining life threatening burns for her gallant efforts.

On Sunday June 9, the Temple Road Secondary School student was discharged from Tenri Embu Children Hospital.

Staff at the hospital could not hold tears of joy as they bid farewell to Mumbi whom they had gotten attached to during her battle with burns wounds.

The hospital’s administration and the medical team handed her a plaque containing a certificate of appreciation that was inscribed; “For the fearlessness and the bravery you exhibited in saving your mother from a burning house”.

Mumbi, 18, will have to live with severe scars caused by burns from the house a year ago and which left her unable to go to school.

NO REGRETS

During an interview with Nation in November, she said she did not regret her decision to save her mother and the baby.

“Though the child succumbed to the burns, I am happy to see my mother alive without any injuries,” said Mumbi during the interview.

On that fateful day, at around 6:30pm, a neighbour complained that her gas cylinder was leaking. Mumbi advised her to replace the burner and continued to watch her favourite programme as she cooked.

Barely an hour later, she heard a loud blast from her neighbour’s house. The cylinder had exploded and burst into flames.

Mumbi quickly dragged her disabled mother Ann Wangeci to safety outside the gate as her neighbours also scampered for safety. (Nairobi news)

Kenyan-Born Woman tells how she found and married her Disabled Australian lover

By
Agbo Christian
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0

After a string of conversations via WhatsApp, finally I got a perfect timing to talk to Susan Njogu Eling together with her husband Phillip Eling. She is miles away in Adelaide, Australia and the time difference had been a constant barrier. It was just before they headed out for their anniversary dinner, but she promised she’d get back to me.

Susan is a 27-year-old native Kenyan born in Matuiku village, Elburgon sub-location, Nakuru county. She is the last-born in a family of seven. She attended a local school known as St Peter’s Girls then joined high school at Bright Light Girls and completed in 2012. It was in 2015 that Susan travelled abroad as an international student to study for a diploma in disability at Equals International School.

“My childhood was not easy and nothing came to us on a silver platter. This prompted me to work extra hard to get to where I am today. My parents, staunch Sabbath keepers, had always been supportive and made me believe I could be anything I wanted to be. Nothing was handed to me and that made me a better person. I was always drawn to helping people, especially those in need. I always saw myself as a person who can bring change to the society, however small the contribution may be,” says Susan.

In 2017, Phillip worked for a service provider company in the support field for the disabled as a customer engagement officer. It so happened that he was part of a board conducting interviews, and Susan was an interviewee. That marked the beginning of their journey.

Phillip was born 30 years ago in Australia. He was a special child since infancy. He was born with muscular myopathy, a progressive muscle weakness that leads to loss of muscle mass. This is as a result of abnormal gene mutation. Phillip, who is the middle child out of three siblings, spent most of his childhood in and out of hospital because of his condition. “My parents and siblings were supportive both physically and mentally, and that really helped me navigate through my condition,” he says.

For 27 years, Phillip remained inconclusively undiagnosed, but in 2015 he had some rather intensive investigative genetic testing, which was released in 2016, and he was diagnosed with Bethlem myopathy, a rare form of muscular dystrophy – a defect in the collagen A1G. The condition affects the skeletal muscles and causes breathing difficulties.

“It was the first severe case to be reported in this part of the world. Basically I have very loose joints and that means I have to be very cautious in what I do and what I expose myself to. A simple cold could escalate to something life threatening. Due to this condition, I have limited movements on my arms, so I often need assistance in doing even the most basic of things such as hygiene or feeding myself. My wife is always there to help. To me, it is not why she does it, but how she does it. It’s so effortless and with passion. I never feel like I am asking for too much from her. That makes her a rare gem,” he elucidates.

For a condition as Phillip’s, emotional support is important to cope every day. The condition is not curable, but there are numerous ways to manage it. As much as it affects his routine, Phillip remains positive and never lets his situation run his life.

Negativity

“When I first saw Susan, I was struck by her beauty. Also, she was smart and very soft spoken. I mustered courage and asked for her phone number, and she agreed to go out on a date with me,” he narrates. After dating for a few months, in mid-2017, Phillip proposed. Fortunately, once they broke the news to their parents, they were all overjoyed. The challenge was dealing with social media and also some friends. “The period from the engagement to the wedding was challenging to us. We expected backlash from intolerant people. There were questions of why I would marry a disabled man.

‘We know you wouldn’t marry a disabled African man. You are probably marrying a disabled white man because you want to get papers to settle in the country, or he’s rich’, were some of the comments I had to deal with,” remembers Susan. “It got really bad that some people claimed that Susan would probably murder me once she became an Australian citizen and take all my money. I recall one comment with laughter emojis that read; ‘Is it really that bad in Africa’,” adds Phillip.

Susan and Phillip would soldier on and get married in January 2018, but they were never quite off the hook. “There were certain instances while at work, some colleagues would make funny jokes or comments like ‘I heard you got yourself a handsome man’, and I would say, ‘Yes, so what about it?’, to which they would have nothing to say. But I could tell the nuances. They were not genuine remarks,” regrets Susan. They explain that comments by trolls online and offline can be very hurtful, but they tried to learn how to deal with it all. “People are not aware that every time you judge someone you reveal a part of yourself that needs healing,” she adds.

So far, their married life has been blissful. Over time, they have grown thick-skinned from facing all the trolls and negativity from the society. “My husband is like any other man. He provides and tends to the household needs just like any other man. I don’t see anything different. People forget that if you are okay and your husband got into an accident and lost both his limbs, would you love him any less or would you take care of him? Nothing changes. Phillip is the love of my life and I am proud to be his wife,” asserts Susan.

Phillip remembers when he was once asked ‘Why did God make you disabled?’, and his response was, ‘So that the miracles of God can be manifested through me for the world to see’. Indeed, he says, since marrying the love of his life, those miracles have been shown to the world. Millions of people have been and continue to be inspired by the power of true love. Being believers, they are thankful and give all the glory to God for their marriage and success in life.

  • “When people heard that Phillip and I were a couple, they thought it was very unusual and that we wouldn’t last long, but two years later, we are still going strong. We have a unique connection and better yet, we genuinely love each other and are looking after each other. As time goes by, we look forward to starting a family and showing people that true love does exist,” concludes Susan.

Gov. Abdulrazaq apologies to Special needs pupils over poor state of facilities in Special Schools

By
Agbo Christian
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0

Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has apologised to pupils of School for Special Needs in Ilorin over the poor condition of the school.

A statement issued by Media Aide to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye on Saturday in Ilorin, said Abdulrazaq gave the apology when he visited the school.

The governor who expressed displeasure at the poor facilities at the school said “now that I have seen things for myself, I know the depth of the problem we have in this sector and we will be responsible in allocating scarce resources.

“We will come back here to ensure that basic standards are met. The truth is that basic needs are not met and it is a shame.

“As a government, we want to apologise for living in this kind of condition and we will make sure that minimum standards are met,’’ the governor said.

Abdulrazaq directed the Permanent Secretary, Kware State Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia Mariam Garuba to urgently submit a recommendation to the government on what the school needs to give the children a good head start in life.

He also commended the pupils and teachers of the school for their resilience and commitment.

Also speaking, Aroyehun Faoziyah, principal of the school said they lacked basic amenities to take care of the children, including modern infrastructure as the classrooms were totally dilapidated.

She said that the school’s clinic also needs essential drugs to treat the pupils when they fell ill.

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ABOUT US

The Qualitative Magazine is the foremost Disability advocacy magazine in Nigeria. It is an educative, empowerment and informative disability advocacy magazine championed by persons with disabilities. Its advent is borne out of the necessity to fill the void left by the media to give the persons with disabilities and other less privileged persons a voice. It is designed to advocate for their rights and privileges of Persons With Disabilities in Nigeria and Africa and also to consciously push across, through advocacy those barriers and stereotypes within society that tend to limit people with disabilities(PWDs) and stifle their inherent potentials including enlightenment campaigns on the causes of disability such as POLIO, ACCIDENTS, WARS, RELIGIOUS CRISIS etc. This social entrepreneurship media outfit was conceived due to the stigmatization and discrimination faced by people with disabilities in Nigeria and Africa. It is an advocacy tool or public enlightenment campaign platform to change the mindset of the public about disability because if the public understand the situation, Disability Inclusion will improve and Persons With Disabilities will be able to participate in social, economic and political activities.

Contact us: qualitativemagazine@yahoo.com

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