The Centre for Citizens with
Disabilities (CCD) has begun consultations with organisations of persons with disabilities
(OPDs in the North-West geo-political zone for conscription into
anti-corruption fight through #UpRight4Nigeria; Stand against Corruption
Campaign beginning from Kano State. The
Campaign which is being implemented through a UKAid funded project on
Strengthening Citizens Resistance against Prevalence of Corruption (SCRAP-C) is
aimed at contributing to a reduction in corruption as a result of changing
public attitudes that increasingly disapprove of corrupt activities.
The Founder/Executive Director, Centre for Citizens with
Disabilities (CCD) Mr. David O. Anyaele represented by the Senior Program Officer,
CCD Mr. Kola Ogunbiyi commended organisations of persons with disabilities in
Nigeria and Kano State in particular for their interest and commitment in the
fight against corruption in our society, which has been demonstrated by the
turnout of heads of PWDs organisation present at the Consultative meeting.
He explained that citizens with disabilities are the worst
hit as a result of prevalence of corruption in the society, as resource meant
for healthcare, education, rehabilitation of citizens with disabilities and
social infrastructures has been abused by those in authority. This situation
deepens the poverty situation in our society, which has been linked to
increasing number of persons with disabilities in the country as disability
causes poverty, and poverty causes disability.
He went further to state that CCD is committed to
strengthening the capacity of organisations of persons with disabilities in
Nigeria to contribute to the fight against corruption in Nigeria. That’s why the
project is currently running in South East-Enugu State and South South- Akwa
Ibom State, and the project will be launched also among organisations of
persons with disabilities in South West- Lagos State; and Kaduna State.
Mr. Anyaele called on persons with disabilities to join
forces with other relevant civil society organisations to stand against
corruption through refusal to participate in corrupt practices; refuse to give
or take bribe, gratification before carrying out services; to uphold the value
of honesty, integrity, transparency and hardwork.
CCD founder further called on organisations of persons with
disabilities to join forces with CSOs to speak against corruption, and engage
in campaign activities to promote anti-corruption in our society, as negative
impact of corruption does not discriminate, and persons with disabilities bears
the greatest negative impact of corruption in our society.
The event was well attended by heads of organisations of
persons with disabilities in the State including the leadership and executive
members of the Joint National Associations of Persons with Disabilities
(JONAPWD) such as JONAPWD Kano State Chairman, Engr. Musa Shaga, JONAPWD
National Women Leader Hajiya Rabi Yusuf and North West Zonal Cordinator,
National Association of persons with physical disability, Mrs. Balikisu Ado
Zango. They all pledged their commitment to ensure that SCRAP-C project in Kano
State is successful.
Based on the press statement signed by SCRAP-C Project Lead,
CCD Peace Ndukwe, after the end of the intensive deliberation, the OPDs adopted
some strategies such as awareness creation, community dialogue, compound
meetings, media programmes, advocacy Visits, engaging the traditional rulers
and religious leaders as a vehicle for actualising SCRAP C project.
Remarkably at the meeting, the Heads of PWDs clusters in
Kano State promised to put their differences aside and work together in
ensuring full implementation of disability law in Kano State and the National
Disability Act
The SCRAP-C is an anti-corruption project is being
implemented by 6 Consortium of six National Civil Society Organizations
-ActionAid Nigeria, Centre for Democracy and Development, and Centre for
Communication and Programmes in Nigeria and three other implementing partners
including WARDC, HEDA, and Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD)
By Esther Onyegbula & Oladimeji Kehinde & Ajetunmobi Adetutu
Olushola John Joshua
For 57-year-old Olushola John Joshua, a retired Assistant Superintendent of Police , who was enlisted into the Nigeria Police in 1983, life , could be said to have dealt him with an unkind fate . First, was the demise of his wife, in 2014, which saddled him with the responsibility of taking care of their five children, alone.
As if that was not enough, an incident that plunged him into his present predicament occurred on December 31, 2016, barely two years to his retirement. Then, he was an Inspector and the patrol Commander at the Ajao Division of the Lagos State Police Command.
He had led a team of policemen , in response to a distress call at Chivita company, Ajao estate. Unknown to him that , it would turn out to be his greatest undoing.
Barely had he arrived the company to contain the situation, than he was ambushed and had a chemical substance poured on him. Unfortunately, the result of that ambush affected his eyes. As you read this piece , his right eye is totally damaged. He also can not see with the left eye. But doctors have assured that it (left eye) has 60% assurance of visibility, only if the required surgery, which will gulp N2.5 Million, is carried on it.
The effect of his present state is already taking a harsh toll on his children as three of them are now out of the higher institutions. Crime Guard gathered that his first son dropped out in 300 level, from the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State , while the two others, were forced to discontinue their studies at the Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State.
These children, take turn to lead their blind father to several places where he goes to beg for money to buy eye drop, to save the left eye from total damage , before the surgery. At the moment, he said, he had borrowed over one million naira to treat himself since the incident happened , with the hope to pay back when he received his gratuity.
Visit to his apartment
A pitiable sight greeted Crime Guard during a visit at the Edo State born retired policeman’s apartment in Ikeja, area of Lagos, as two of his children who were supposed to be in school were on ground to assist him.
Clad in grey robe , he narrated how he was detained for eight hours at the Lagos State Police Command, in his bid to get the attention of the Commissioner of Police. At a point, he said he regretted joining the Police .
Hear him: “ I was on official duty as the then patrol commander at Ajao estate division
when I received a distress call from the Management of Chivita company that some hoodlums had broken into their warehouse and were looting their products and that they needed policemen to help restore normalcy to the area.
”Few minutes later, the then Divisional Police Officer, who also received the distress call from Chivita, called me immediately and asked me to go to the company with my team to ensure that adequate security was provided there. As my team and I were about leaving, I received another call on my walkie talkie through a radio message from the police command control room by the Area Commander, who directed me to move to the scene and give him security report of the incident.”
“As soon as we got to the company, we alighted from the patrol van, at one of the entrances, we saw more than 500 persons inside the premises. The people the management alleged were hoodlums were so many. I knew that there was no way that number of hoodlums could invade the company to steal anything. So, I asked some members of the team to man the other entrance while a few others and I went through the main entrance.
The attack
“Unknown to me that someone was waiting to attack us with chemical substance. Immediately we entered the premises, they threw different missiles at us. One of the canisters they threw landed on my head and exploded. Its content poured on my head and covered my face. As I made an attempt to run back, while groping in the dark, I fell down, writhing in excruciating pain. The people started shouting, “one of them has fallen”, “collect his gun”, “collect his gun”. As I could not see anywhere, I managed to stand up and began to move, I didn’t know the direction I was moving to. I corked my gun, fired some shots on the ground to scare my attackers and I discovered that the people who were coming close withdrew.
By then, some of my men held my hand and dragged me to the vehicle, they took me to Hidat private hospital, where doctors made frantic efforts to treat me but said that it was beyond them. I was referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH , where I spent seven days. From there, I was referred to another hospital. Yet, I was told that the problem could not be solved.
“My DPO came to the hospital with some management staff of CHIVITA to console me. They said I would be taken outside the country where surgery would be carried on the eyes since the doctors here said they could not treat me.
During the period I spent at LASUTH , a team of Chivita staff led by a retired General came to visit me. I was told that the company budgeted 10 million to fly me abroad for treatment. I broke down in tears when LASUTH said they could not treat me . I asked my children to help me call my DPO. She came with the company of some Chivita representative. The Chivita representative explained that the delay was as a result of the bottle neck procedures that the company needed to follow to release funds for my treatment. Later they agreed and took me to a one private hospital, Eye foundation, situated at 27 Isaac John street G.R.A Ikeja Lagos, they assured me that the management of Chivita had spoken to the hospital to look at my case and fly me abroad if they could not attend to it”.
Abandoned
Unfortunately, that was never to be as he said that he was abandoned there.
At this point, he paused, bowed his head and at same time, shook it in self pity. He was silent for a for a while, before he raised his head to continue.
He said, “ At LASUTH, Chivita paid N115,000 which was later refunded when the doctors said they could not handle my case. At the Eye foundation hospital, I was requested to deposit 175,000. According to the doctor, I would be paying N25,000 per night, before they would commence treatment. I was confused because I didn’t have any funds. The DPO was still at the hospital when all these were happening; all the DPO said was that I should use my discretion, If I didn’t have the money.”
“Because of lack of funds, I asked the doctor if my children could bring me to the hospital for treatment, instead of sleeping there, he said yes. This was when my suffering began. My children had to pay for a cab that would take me to the hospital each time I had appointment with the doctor. After a week I called the D.P.O and he said, the Chivita people said every bill I spent would be catered for. From the initial N115,000, I paid for medical treatment, for cab everyday to the hospital, for consultation fee and also bought different eye drops, which ranged between N5000 and N7,000. They used six different ones at the same time. But the company never showed up as promised . I was abandoned to fate.
”As days ran into weeks, weeks to months, it became obvious that the Management of Chivita was not forth coming. My children went to meet the D.P.O with an accumulated bill of N150,000. All they could bring was N90,000″.
Prevented from seeing CP Owoseni
When it became obvious that he had been abandoned, Joshua said he decided to meet with the then Commissioner of Police, CP Fatai Owoseni, four months after the incident. But he said he was prevented from seeing him.
He said, “ On April 10, 2016, I told my children to take me to the then Lagos state CP Fatai Owoseni. Before this date, I had attempted to see him three times but to no avail. His Personal Assistant never allowed me to. They were just looking at me as a blind beggar. I was frustrated and humiliated for now what looked like crime in serving my country for 34 years.
“On that particular day, out of frustration, I sat in front of the entrance of the C.P Fatai Owoseni office. I was determined to kill myself if I didn’t see him because you cannot say that a master sent his servant on errand, only to be abandoned.
When I threatened to kill myself if I was not allowed to see him, somebody called the D.P.O who went straight to the CP’s office. After sometime she came out she asked me what I was doing there. To my surprise, she started shouting and asked if it was because of my problem. She said there were many people waiting to see the CP and that before he would have chance to see me, it would be late.
She fixed a date for us to go and see the Chivta people. But when I got to the company, she told me that the C.P was calling her and that a patrol van had been called to take her home. She said she would go back to the company to collect the money based on the directives of the C.P .
Later, she sent the Station Officer who was accompanied by other person, to give me N200,000″.
Detained
Last October, he said during one of his routine visits to the hospital, doctors informed him that he would lose both eyes if urgent steps were not taken to carry out the surgery. In his confused state, he visited the command, only to be denied opportunity to see the CP.
He said, “ Like the previous CP, CP Imohimi Edgal’s personal assistant prevented me from seeing him. I went through the Admin officer whose rank is ASP. When he saw me, he burst into tears because they all knew my problem and he said I should wait and later took me to meet the C.P. but when we got there, the place was filled . he called the CP’s P.A to allow me in when the CP finished with other people. But when the Admin officer left, CP Edgal’s P.A did not allow me in .
In my determined state to meet with Edgal, I went downstairs and told my son to position me by the CP’s car , so as to accost him when he would be leaving. But as the CP was approaching his car, my son told me that some people were coming with him. I later got to know that it was the wife of the then Inspector-General of Police.
Since I could not see, I did not know that the car was about to move. I bent down and started crying for the CP to have pity on me and at the same time, tried to explain how I became blind.
All I heard was the shout of sabotage and the next was that I was taken away, including my son. We were detained in the provost office.
“By then the provost was listening to why I was detained, he shed tears and reported the matter to a Deputy Commissioner of Police . By the time I was taken to see the DC, he went to explain the position of things to CP Edgal.
Arrest
A week later, he said he was invited by CP Edgal who granted him audience and immediately directed that management of Chivita company should be summoned before the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge o f the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba .
He said, “ But when Chivita management got to the SCID, they said they didn’t believe that I had any problem with my eyes, that they would have to take me to another eye foundation at Victoria Island managed by an Indian man. By the time the result came out, I didn’t hear anything from Chivita. Even when the result of the test conducted on the eyes came out, Chivita didn’t want me to know it was out, until I went to Panti. At a point, they stopped coming to Panti . Even the Investigation Police Officer, IPO began to toss me here and there , at a point.
“ For three years I have been suffering, I started borrowing to treat the eye because If I don’t go to the hospital, the left eye will be damaged . I have borrowed over N1 million to buy drugs . This has forced my children out of school .
All I need for the surgery is N2.5 million . The bill was brought last August. I told my son to go and meet with the DPO, to contact Chivita company that promised to sponsor my treatment abroad . but the company is saying a different thing. It said it never entered into any agreement of such with me. They even dared me to go to court.
Regrets
“ At the moment, I have no one to run to for financial assistance. The company has refused to look my way and the Police are not saying anything as well. Is this the right way to pay me for my 34 years of serving the Police? Most times, the public complains that policemen don’t answer to distress calls. This is the kind of situation that policemen are running from.
What can be worse than being abandoned at a time you need help most? Can you imagine the Police said their hands are tied, for N2.5million to treat one of their own? If I had refused to go to the scene of the distress call as directed by my DPO, I would be made to face order room trial, or I would have been dismissed or reduced in rank.
“My crime was obeying a directive from my boss. I went there for the message they sent me and in the course of it I was attacked and all they could do was to take me to the hospital and abandone me there to suffer with my children. I lost my wife in 2014. My children have been struggling with me since”.
Last week, a 10-year-old girl, Jessica Omogiate, who was moved with pity for the blind retired cop, donated her lunch and transport money to him, to add to whatever he had for the treatment.
He has not been abandoned
But the Police said that the ASP had not been abandoned as claimed. Spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, DSP Elkana Bala, stated when contacted that his files were being processed.
Although the incident did not occur during the present Commissioner of Police , CP Zubairu Muazu’s tenure, but the command according to Bala, “ has started processing his files. He has not been abandoned by the Police. The command is aware of the matter and is making moves to do the needful”.
Gov Benedict Ayade has as part of his quest for
industrialization of Cross River State yet again embarked on another business
trip to Norway in search of potential investors.
The Gov who is in company of renowned business mogul High
Chief Higgins and Mr Chris Agara, is hoping to bank on the expertise of the duo
to sway more investors to the state.
The businessmen
alongside the digital governor,
Prof Senator Ben Ayade can be best described as some of the best breeds from
the state.
As part of the trip, the Gov and his delegation will be attending a series of conferences and business meetings.
Gov Ayade has
overtime proven that his exposure is a plus to the state and country as he has
attracted investors from not less than 30 countries to the state.
The industrialization drive of the governor has led to the creation of jobs ranging in thousands for youths in all sectors of the economy over the past four (4) years, top on the list are the Garment Factory, Rice Seedlings Factory, Cross River Toothpick factory, amongst others.
Also In commendation and recognition of the giant strides of
the Gov Ben Ayade led administration, a
youth group led by Comr Michael Sunday Emaluji CEO Emaluji Reports is
organizing a seminar/skills acquisition training to get the youths ready to tap
into the industrialization mantra.
Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, has called on government to endeavour to provide persons with disability (PWD) the resources and opportunities to contribute their quotas to national development.
He said, “Our brains are no better and no less than what is also with them and if we give them the opportunity, they are able to prove their sense of humanity.”
The NMC Chairman was speaking at the maiden Ashanti Regional Ghana Journalists Association (GJA)’s awards ceremony in appreciation of a partially blind journalist, Ivan Heathcote Fumador, who grabbed the highest number of awards in Agriculture, Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene Reporting.
The journalist also swept runners up certificate awards in eight other categories, Education, Human Rights (Women, Children, Rural Reporting and Science and Technology, Small and Medium Scale Enterprise, Business and Finance, and two awards in broadcast features in radio.
He received a special GJA award and citation for standing out as a visually impaired journalist bracing the odds to stand out in the profession.
According to the NMC Chairman, “it is a clear demonstration that physical disability is not intellectual inability. This must be a motivation to every one of us, such that when we see people who are disabled, we will not make a laughing stock of them.”
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafo, who was chairman of the ceremony, bemoaned unprofessionalism among journalists and charged them to guard against the image of the profession as journalism assumes a pivotal role in the governance and development of the country.
He asked journalists to contribute to the development of the country by safeguarding the existing peaceful atmosphere and charged radio stations and their show hosts to endeavour to engage experts on issues instead of the usual political activists during discussions.
Mr Boadu-Ayeboafo further tasked the media to join to promote environmental sanitation by educating the public on the dangers of indiscriminate disposal of waste among others.
President of the GJA, Mr Roland Affail Monney, was full of praise for the regional executive for a successful awards ceremony adding that the 70th anniversary of the Association would be decentralised to the regions to afford members based outside Accra to be part of the celebration.
Mr Kingsley E. Hope, chairman of the regional association, earlier on noted that the stories entered “are oxygen of civilisation and the elixir of sanity and wisdom,” an indication of the wealth of knowledge of practitioners in the region.
Touching on the theme of the ceremony, “The media’s mandate in fostering sustainable environmental sanitation,” Mr Hope called on authorities to implement the laws on environmental sanitation and urged journalists to intensify the campaign against indiscriminate waste disposal for the betterment of the country.
In all 22 journalists with only one female were recognised in the awards ceremony with the Multimedia’s Prince Appiah emerging the overall best.
Americans with disabilities are proud–and as their numbers grow, so will their influence on business and everyday life.
Oh wait, that was in Canada, which has a large-scale public campaign promoting accessibility and full inclusion of people with disabilities called Everyone Everywhere. The movement was founded by athlete Rick Hansen and their mission statement reads, “We’re going to rally an entire nation and we won’t stop until everyone can go everywhere.” The campaign’s stated goal is to maximize the potential for everyone to have physical freedom and opportunities.
This is a wake-up call to American businesses: Serving the disability community is not only the right thing to do, but it is an opportunity far too big to miss. One annual report from Return on Investment compares the emerging market of people with disabilities to the size of China. That’s an estimated 1.3 billion people with disabilities, many of them Baby Boomers who control a larger share of wealth than any previous generation.
The rise of people with disabilities isn’t just a numbers issue. It’s a generational one. This new workforce—Millennials and Gen-Z—could not be more different in their approach to tackling mental health and disabilities. They’ve never heard of the cone of silence and they’ve never seen anyone whisper the words “She has cancer.” Instead, they are energized by the power of the LGBTQ community, Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement—all similarly able to impact public opinion and raise awareness of their community and relevant issues. People with disabilities have always voiced their concerns, but this time it feels different. Maybe because new business statistics show people of all abilities are assets, or that healthcare issues affect people with disabilities disproportionately. Workplace diversity and inclusion initiatives may also be building awareness and understanding. And yes, there’s even real representation of people with disabilities on screen. It’s no coincidence that one of the first seven documentaries the Obama’s will create in collaboration with Netflix is CripCamp. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read the back-story here.
People with disabilities say they can find very few mentors at work. Thanks to some powerful personalities, that’s changing.
Next year will be the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But even 30 years later, it feels as though the U.S. is still playing catch up, not only catching up to the Canadians ‘everyone can go anywhere’ movement but also to awareness campaigns like the U.K.’s. Let’s Talk disability equality initiative.
The Albino Foundation (TAF) and its partners will be
organizating a two-day programme to mark 2019 international albinism awareness
day with the theme: “Still Standing Strong, Advancing The Albinism cause”. The event
will take place in Abuja from 12th of June to 13th of
June with a National conference on Albinism that will be culminated with Walk
for Albinism, free medical eye and skin to test, Fashion, Photography and Art
Exhibition, and capacity building for persons with albinism. These activities
are geared towards creating the needed awareness on the issues and challenges
faced by persons with Albinism and how best to address them
In press release signed by the Founder/CEO The Albino Foundation Jake Epelle, the foundation invites all member states, organization of United Nations system and other international and regional organizations, civil society groups, non-governmental organization and individuals to observe International Albinism Awareness Day in an appropriate manner.
These men and women are lending their voices and arts in support of albinism cause
The foundation is calling on the Members States to provide
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights with Information on the initiatives
taken to promote and protect the human rights of persons with albinism and understanding
of albinism globally. The Foundation urges the human rights treaty bodies and
special procedures of the Human Rights council to continue to give attention,
with their respective mandates, to the situation of the persons with albinism globally.
On 13th June 2015, the United Nations General
Assembly at its Sixty-ninth(69th) Session, third committee Agenda
item 68 (b) proclaimed International Albinism Awareness Day going by their deep
concern on the widespread discrimination, stigmatization, dehumanization and
brutal killings of persons with albinism
across the World and the need for more public awareness on the needs and challenges
of persons with albinism globally, especially in Africa.
The Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, said on Wednesday that his government would pay special attention to the less privileged and the disabled.
The Governor, who was speaking at a Special Eid-el-Fitri celebration which he hosted at the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, said he would ensure a special place for the less privileged and the disabled in his government.
Makinde, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa, said that those who have been privileged to govern in the past have kept the disabled out for too long.
Besides hosting the Muslim community in Oyo State led by the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, a representative of the Soun of Ogbomosoland, the Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheikh Abduganiy Agbotomokekere, the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Dawud Makanjuola Akinola, among other dignitaries, the Governor also hosted the disabled from Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled, as well as children from the Juvenile Correctional Institution and Childcare for abandoned children and the Ark of Hope foundation, an orphanage.
He said: “After my swearing-in, and I was being conducted round the Government House, I saw that there was no place for the disabled and I asked the Head of Service; how will my people in Beere, the disabled and the less privileged gain access to this place.
“I told her I will be a protocol and logistics nightmare because I will always open the doors of Government House to the disabled and less privileged. So always put them in your arrangement whenever you are planning a programme.”
He also promised to ensure religious harmony in the state, adding that the prayers of the religious leaders ensured his victory at the last election.
The Governor said: “While coming here, some people came to me that I could send somebody because it was just a social gathering for Salah celebrations, but I insisted on coming in person because our government will not discriminate against Muslims or Christians.
“You will see that I have demonstrated that by appointing a Muslim, Chief Luqman Bisi Ilaka, as Chief of Staff. That is also because there is no family in this state where you don’t have Muslims and Christians. So when they discriminate against one religion or the other in other states, it does not get here.
“During the campaigns, I went to different Mosques and met Muslim leaders; they prayed for me and it is the prayers that led to our success at the polls.”
The Governor also asked Muslim leaders not to relent in their prayers for those in government, adding that now that their prayers have come to pass with his success at the polls, religious leaders should not relent in their prayers.
“Your prayers have come to pass through our success in the last election. I want to plead with you that you should not stop praying for the government and those of us in government because I do tell people that what you need to win an election is far less than what you need to run a government.
“What we need is for development to come to Oyo state and development will come only in an atmosphere of peace.
“That is why as soon as I came into government and people started saying that the Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) people wanted to cause mayhem, I proscribed them. It does not matter which faction supported me or which one did not. I am the Governor of all the people of Oyo State and it doesn’t matter which party you belong,” Governor Makinde said.
The state’s Deputy Governor, Engr Aderemi Olaniyan, who also spoke at the event, told the people that the government in Oyo state would continue to respect religious rights of every individual.
He said that the ceremony would be bigger next year because of the Governor’s commitment to religious harmony.
While praying at the ceremony, the Chief Imam of Ibadanland Sheikh Abduganiy Agbotomokekere, urged the Governor to keep his electoral promises adding that his electoral victory was secured because many in the state see him as a promise keeper.
Nigeria is to host, Deaf Football Tournament in November, Amuda Ibrahim, a board member of Confederation for Africa Deaf Sports (CADS), has said.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos that Nigeria’s participation and top ranked record in Deaf Football tournaments earned her the hosting right.
Ibrahim said that Nigeria Deaf Football Association’s (NDFA) national team, known as ‘Deaf Eagles’ was currently ranked number one in West Africa and two in Africa.
He said that Nigeria was expected to host for the first time in November, the Africa Deaf Football Championship being part of qualifiers for 2020 World Cup and 2022 Deaf-Olympics.
“Nigeria’s Deaf Eagles have been significantly active in West Africa and Africa Deaf football tournaments since the inception of the competition in 2000. “The team have been in the forefront in all its participation and have lifted the trophy three times and twice finished second position, an outstanding in Africa ranking.
“It was on that note that CADS official ruling body deemed it fit to acknowledge Nigeria’s impressive records by awarding it the hosting right of 2019 Africa Deaf Football tournament,” he said. Ibrahim who double as president of West Africa Deaf Sports Union (WADSU), said the hosting of the championship in Nigeria was a good one for the country to make history.
He said the development of deaf football in the country which has not been enjoying its rightful place of awareness, would receive adequate attention and attract more upcoming footballers.
“This hosting right is coming with lots of benefits that will bring positive development to deaf football in our country, so I see it as an opportunity. “Lots of deaf footballers are not aware of the activities of the sport, but with this upcoming hosting, the awareness will attract them to build their career.
“The drive to watch deaf footballers on the pitch will attract fans to the sports and some will be inspired to identity with activities of the sport by way of sponsorship,” he added.
He noted that the hosting right from the confederation have been sent to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.
Ibrahim explained that the importance of Nigeria in Africa has been acknowledged worldwide, hence it was necessary for her to prepare adequately to host a memorial event.
As part of activities to mark 2019 world menstrual hygiene
day, a non-governmental organization, Empower Her 4 Africa Initiative (Empower
Her for Sustainable development Initiative in Africa)
has sensitized students of secondary schools in the nation’s
capital on the need to maintain good and proper menstrual hygiene.
The NGO which was established with the objective of
empowering the girl-child and vulnerable women through education and vocational
training also donated sanitary materials such as pads to the students.
The group educated the students on the average age for a
girl to experience her first menstrual cycle, the number of days in the cycle,
the signs and symptoms of menstruation, and how to handle the pain and other
challenges that come with menstruation.
According to the Executive Director of the NGO, Charlene
Makai, the essence of the sensitization was to create awareness on menstrual
hygiene in order to deconstruct the myth and misconception about menstruation.
Charlene stated that poor menstrual hygiene undermines the
educational opportunities of girls and women by affecting their health and
social status, thereby preventing them from reaching their full potentials.
She called on policy makers in the country to give priority
attention to issues of menstrual Hygiene of school girls at all levels of
governance by providing them with sanitary towels.
While speaking with Nigerian Pilot at Blessed Children
Compressive International School Waru, one of the two secondary schools
visited, Charlene said, “Girls are being discriminated against when they
are menstruating, they are treated like dirt hence they tend to stay at home during menstruation
which affects their education.
“This is why
we taught them on how to take care of themselves during
menstruation in order not to be discriminated against.”
Continuing, she added that, “We want the girls to know
that it is safe to menstruate. We want to disabuse the minds of the people on
the misconception that when a girl is menstruating, she cannot go to school,
she cannot handle some things, and she cannot be in some places or be saddled
with some responsibilities.
“We are collaborating with other organizations outside
Nigeria to make sure we have pad banks in schools so that when the girls are
menstruating they can get their pads and continue going to school as
normal.”
Some of the students who participated in the sensitization
lauded the organizers for providing them with such important opportunity to
learn about this issue that is so personal to them.
One of the students, Naomi Tanko said, “I have learnt a lot
about the correct use of the pad, how to make sure our hands are clean when we
are using the pad and how to dispose of it properly.”
Another student, Maria Peter said, “I learnt how to take
care of my genital when menstruating so that we can prevent bacterial
infections. I learnt that we should not stop coming to school when we are
menstruating. I learnt that the pain we experience during menstruation are
normal, and we should not be afraid and that we can take little pain killer for
it.”
Menstrual Hygiene Day is marked every May 28 to raise
awareness and combat misconception associated with menstrual hygiene with the
goal of enabling women and girls to achieve their full potential.
All around the world, many women including girls lack access
to menstrual hygiene products or sanitation facilities, either due to limited
availability or excessive cost.
In the same vein, myths and stigmas surrounding menstruation
cause some women and girls to miss school or work or go into isolation.
It is for this reason that NGO like Empower Her 4 Africa
Initiative is engaging in an open dialogue and education at home and in school
to foster engagement with this often unspoken issue.
The theme of 2019 Menstrual Hygiene Day, “It’s Time for
Action”, not only emphasized the urgency of this public health issue, but
also highlight the transformative power of improved menstrual hygiene to
empower the world’s women and girls and unlock their economic and educational
opportunities.
Highpoints of the sensitization exercise included
distribution of sanitary pads to the female students and demonstration of the
use of the pads by the trainers and some of the students.
For the past five years, Alice has been making a living as a sex worker. She is also disabled; she has bipolar type II, which leads to hypomania, depression and a severe lack of physical energy.
For Alice, these two sides of her life – disability and sex work – are inexorably linked. Alice (not her real name) started this line of work when she was at university – it was a way to make some extra cash to top up her student loan. She had always intended to quit sex work after graduating. “That was three years ago,” she says.
Upon leaving university, she struggled to retain a job. Traditional employment – with a boss and set working hours – proved impossible during depressive episodes and her job came to an end for that reason. She started a postgraduate degree, but her mental health meant she kept missing lectures and the university eventually recommended she take a year off. “I’ve to all intents and purposes [had to] drop out,” she says.
The disability benefit system is supposed to be there to catch people such as Alice; a safety net for when ill health means she cannot have a job to pay the bills. But she is in a catch-22: she cannot claim the out-of-work sickness benefit, employment support allowance (ESA), because she is still registered as a student, despite the fact that her mental health meant she had to leave her course. “On the one hand, I’ve got someone saying: ‘You’re too unwell to study or work.’ On the other, I’ve got [the government] saying: ‘You’re not unwell enough to get support, and go away.’”
On top of this, she was turned down for the other key disability benefit, personal independence payment (PIP). In the middle of a depressive episode, she could not fill in the extensive paperwork. “Ironically, I wasn’t well enough to chase them,” she says. After reapplying and being rejected again, she had to appeal against the decision, which constitutes a mound of paperwork and then a tribunal in court.Besides, Alice worries that mental health problems are rarely seen by the benefit system as being as debilitating as, say, being a wheelchair user. It is a concern backed up by evidence: in 2018, the high court ruled that the PIP system was “blatantly discriminatory” against people with mental health problems, even going as far as to order the government to review 1.6m disability benefit claims. It all adds up to a situation where Alice could not pay the bills with either a wage or social security. As she put it to me: “I’ve got no income to speak of and the government doesn’t care.”
Instead, she has had to rely on sex work to get by. When I first speak to Alice, she is working. I have accidentally called her early and her client is still in her home. This is an intimate set-up but it generally works for her health. Being her own boss, she has a flexible working pattern and can control the use of her own flat. “When I’m having my down days, I don’t have an employer to answer to, and then, when I’m elated or if I’m actually well, I can sort my own bookings out and organise my own working pattern to cover the days that I can’t work,” she says.
Arranging her working hours around fluctuating health is especially easy with sex work, she explains, as she is able to earn a lot quickly on her good days, “if you put the time and energy in”. However, her health means she has often not got enough energy to take bookings. Alice uses what she calls “standard rates”: £130 for an hour at her place, £150 at someone else’s, £50 for 15 minutes and £750 for overnight. Most clients tend to go for half an hour or an hour, she says. She describes her working hours as “binge and starve”: she goes several weeks without a client and then sees several men a day, for a few days. “Then I recover,” she says.
There is a pressure to take on as many clients as possible when she is well. Without her disability benefits or a regular income, Alice is thousands of pounds in debt: £10,000 to friends she has borrowed from over the years;
her student loan; a £3,000 overdraft; and maxed-out credit cards. Rare periods of hypomania can lead her to shop excessively. But for the past five years, it is simply her lack of income that has seen her finances spiral. She is getting into more and more debt every month, as her outgoings exceed her earnings. The stress of the debts is taking a further toll on her mental health, “only making the situation a vicious cycle”. Finding clients has become a way to alleviate the debt and keep her head above water. “I wouldn’t have been able to survive without sex work,” she says. “It’s quite literally saved my life.”
As we talk, Alice repeatedly tells me there are times she really enjoys sex work, but she admits her choices are heavily controlled by circumstance. She says: “I’m definitely being failed by the system right now – being financially coerced into it by the government.”
As the UK recession and the subsequent austerity measures kicked in, I began to speak to a number of disabled women who had turned to sex work in order to get by. The methods of work varied. Some met men in person who paid them in exchange for sex. Others began sex-cam work; half an hour stripping on Skype for a stranger across the internet. Women with pain- or fatigue-related disabilities were particularly prevalent in the latter. Sex work was the one job they could do from their beds. But if the disabilities varied, the reasons for taking on this work often came back the same: like Alice, without access to benefits or traditional employment, sex work was the only way they could survive.
Alice’s best friend, Sarah, is also disabled and has chronic pain. Unlike Alice, Sarah has been granted disability benefits but does sex work to top up her low payments. The government gives her “some, but not enough to live off as a human being”, Alice says. Many of her friends with disabilities and chronic illnesses started sex work for the ease and flexibility it offered to those who are too unwell for traditional employment – or, as she puts it, whose energy levels are sometimes too low to function properly but “who need money to survive in the world”. “It is what it is,” she says. “If the state won’t support vulnerable people, they have to find work. And if they can’t, they’ll find options.” .
This use of sex work as a last option for marginalised women is not a new phenomenon, but as benefit cuts have been rolled out, austerity measures are exacerbating it. In 2018, Frank Field MP, chair of the work and pensions committee, reported that some women in his Birkenhead constituency had been pushed into prostitution because of the local roll-out of universal credit. The union Aslef suggests that on-street prostitution increased by 60% between 2010 and 2017, which has, in particular, been linked to an increase in women having their benefits sanctioned.
Women’s organisations and outreach workers across the country repeatedly point to this pattern. Changing Lives, a charity that provides women’s services across the north of England and the Midlands, conducted research in 2016 into what it termed “survival sex work”. It found women to be selling penetrative sex for as little as £10 for a place to stay or even in exchange for clean clothes, with “punters” approaching them to offer as little as a fiver at times when the women are perceived as being particularly vulnerable. Staff at the organisation’s women’s outreach centre tell me that a growing number of women are being pushed into sex work because they have their benefits stopped for things such as missing JobCentre appointments or failing to attend interviews.
“We noticed a big increase in women selling sex after the introduction of benefit sanctions, not just to make ends meet but, in some cases, to provide the basics for their family,” says Laura Seebohm, the director of operations at Changing Lives. “Some of the women were so desperate that they were selling sex for the first time while others had successfully got themselves out of the world of survival sex only for the sanctions to come along and force them back into it.” Another staff member at the service, Laura McIntyre, told me that women with learning disabilities and those with multiple and complex needs have been particularly at risk.
At the same time, Sheffield Working Women’s Opportunities Project in 2016 warned that austerity measures, including benefit rejections and sanctions, were behind an estimated 400% rise in women using their service who had entered prostitution. Some were new to sex work, they noted, but many were women who had previously managed to leave prostitution only to have to return as much as a decade later because of losing their social security. “We know that some women come out just so they can buy food, and once they’ve raised enough they go home again,” the manager of the centre went on. “Quite a lot of women might only intend to come out for five or six weeks to make some money while they wait for payments to come through but once they’re in it again, it can be very difficult to leave.”
Alice is, in many ways, in a much safer environment than the women resorting to on-street sex work. She finds her clients through the internet and coordinates them through a work phone and email address. “Ninety per cent of sex work is admin,” she laughs. But she admits that, even working in this safer environment, she is sometimes more vulnerable because of her mental health. If she is hypomanic, she doesn’t just take on more work but forgoes safety checks: during those periods, she is active, creative, energised, “and everything seems a good idea”. “It’s not necessarily safe. I make riskier decisions – like driving two hours to somewhere I don’t know at 3am,” she says.
Alice is doing this at a time when women generally, let alone those contending with health problems, are facing an increasingly arduous labour market. The push to insecure, low-paid work in recent years has disproportionately affected women, who are already more likely than men to be in part-time or low-waged roles. Since the start of the global crash in 2008, 826,000 extra women have moved into low-paid and insecure work in the UK, according to the Fawcett Society. At the same time, the number of female part-time workers who would like to be working full-time has nearly doubled, to 789,000.
This shift to precarious work will likely exacerbate what are already poorer working opportunities for those women with disabilities. Research by Comic Relief in 2017 found that as much as 50% of the work disabled people perform is in low-paid, short-term and part-time roles, meaning female disabled workers are contending with the impact of both sex and disability. Even cuts to disability benefits are, in some ways, gendered. Women are more likely to be disabled – there are around 6.4 million disabled women in the UK compared to 5.5 million disabled men – and the Women’s Budget Group in 2018 found that almost six in 10 individuals claiming PIP are women.
When we next talk, Alice has just received a large pack of documents from the Department for Work and Pensions: 100 A4 pages front and back. She needs to read and understand all of them before her tribunal appeal of her PIP rejection; a process that has, overall, taken the best part of a year so far. “The government is making it deliberately as confusing, intimidating and difficult as possible,” she says. A local disability charity has been helping her navigate the appeal, but lottery funding – its only source of income – is due to run out in a few months’ time and Alice is worried she will be left to take on officials at the tribunal alone. “It’s all very overwhelming and distressing,” she says. “I really need the government to recognise that I have next to no income and it is a direct result of being disabled.”
Her mental health is deteriorating as a result and she has been put under the care of her local crisis team for suicide prevention after developing suicidal feelings. Despite sending out multiple CVs each day she is, more than ever, “not in a place where I can manage a traditional job”. Alice is trying to formally withdraw from her degree so she is eligible for ESA, and with it she might finally get a bit of support from the benefit system. In the meantime, it is a case of borrowing money from friends, credit cards and her growing bank overdraft. “I don’t know what to do at this point,” she admits. “I’m treading water. Or at least delaying my drowning through … sex work.”
