Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo reports that the thrust of the recently held second Disability and Rehabilitation Conference at Hopeville Rehabilitation Centre Uturu, Abia State, was the need for Nigeria to manage the current flashlights of conflicts in a manner that would not explode to full blown civil war. This is because wars, undoubtedly engender physical disabilities when people lose limbs or other body parts
The victims with disabilities of the Nigeria civil war who were rehabilitated at the Hopeville Rehabilitation Centre Uturu, Abia State are no longer there. They had completed their rehabilitation a long time ago and left the centre specifically established for their care immediately after the war.
Their places have presently been taken by persons with other forms or disabilities, including mental disability. But there is palpable fear that the heightening insecurity and general tension across the country could again generate postwar persons with disabilities.
Wars, undoubtedly engender physical disabilities when people lose limbs or other body parts that could hamper their physical activities. That was why participants at the 2nd Disability and Rehabilitation Conference held recently at Hopeville emphasised the need for Nigeria to manage the current flashlights of conflicts in a manner that would not explode to full blown civil war.
The organisers of the conference, the Charity Okonkwo Development Centre(CODC), chose to use the conference for promotion of peace and unity in Nigeria. According to the Executive Director, Mr. Uche Okonkwo, the CODC, which is a non-governmental organisation was desirous of promoting social engagements that could strengthen the fabric that binds the nation together.
He noted that the current separatist agitations and the general tension in the land have continued to put people on edge as things could boil over any day. “With the way things are going in Nigeria, we need to work hard to ensure that peace reigns,” he said, adding that in conflict situation so much would be lost, including the much cherished personal liberty.
Okonkwo pointed out that it was due to the general insecurity in the country that the conference “lost its national colouration” . Many participants expected from different parts of the country failed to turn up. He said that it was obvious that the expected participants from far places were afraid to travel outside their various areas due to the prevailing insecurity across the nation.
The CODC ED said people should learn from the inconveniences being caused by the simmering crises and guage how the situation would be should the country find itself embroiled in another civil war. “We will suffer more if we are not at peace with one another,” he warned. All the speakers at the event agreed.
Consequently, they all added their strident voices in calling for peace to reign across the nation. They also expressed apprehension on the prospect of Nigeria slipping into another civil war.
The Director, Hopeville Rehabilitation Centre, Rev. Brother Gabriel Igbonachom emphatically stated that the smokes emanating from the crisis areas in the country should not be allowed to develop into conflagration that could consume the entire country.
He said crisis that could escalate to civil war should be avoided because of the dire consequences, adding that war has the tendency of increasing the population of disabled persons in the society among the survivors.
The Bishop, Diocese of Uturu, Methodist Church Nigeria, Rt Rev. Best Okike, who was the keynote speaker, underlined the need for a collective desire and unity of purpose in the pursuit of peace and harmony in the country.
He sent out a clarion call to “all and sundry to keep promoting ideas, programmes, activities and policies that trigger, encourage, support, uphold national unity and integration”. “This is imperative,” he said, “because it is our individual and collective responsibility to promote national peace and unity”.
He said that youths should be discouraged from engaging in a activities that could spark civil conflict, noting that those clamouring for war belong largely to the generation born after the civil war and so didn’t experience the horrendous aspects of war.
The representative of retirees living with disability, Godwin Ananaba advised those promoting violence to retrace their steps. He noted that most of the crises rocking the nation were products of bad leadership and governance. “Nigeria is good; the only thing bad is that we have bad leaders,” he asserted.
Head, Women and Gender Unit, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), Mrs. Nike Akinbola, who represented the Executive Secretary, Mr. James Lalu, blamed the society for the violent reactions among the country’s youth population.
According to her, the violence among youths “is a reaction to the society that throws stones at us”, adding that the provocative stones being hauled at youths come in various forms, including unemployment and general hardships.
However, Akinbola, who is living with disability causes by polio, pointed out the impropriety of negative reaction to the failings of society since a positive attitude could change the situation for good thereby averting conflicts. She, therefore, counseled that “we should use the stones thrown at us to build stepping stones to greatness”.
It was not all about building buffers against conflicts. The conference also spared a thought for the plight of PWDs and how their welfare could be improved to give them sense of belonging, enhanced self esteem and the will power to aim high and attain their inherent potentials.
Bishop Okike in the keynote address regretted that “most times” the society overlooks PWDs. But he noted that the second edition of the Disability and Rehabilitation Conference “has awakened us to the need to be close to persons with disabilities”.
Delving into all the dimensions and ramifications of disabilities, the cleric stressed the urgent need to tackle the factors that cause disabilities. He stated that the 2006 census figure that put the population of PWDs at 3.253,169 or 2.32 percent of the 140,421,790 population figure was faulted by the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities hence the need for accurate data on disability.
Nonetheless, he noted that while the full extent of disabilities in Nigeria has not been determined, as at 2020 it was estimated that over 27 million Nigerians live with some form of disability. “Many of them face a number of human rights abuses including stigmatisation, discrimination, violence, and lack of access to healthcare, housing and education,” Bishop Okike stated.
The Methodist Bishop warned that any plan for economic and social development that negates the inclusion of PWDs was bound to fail. According to him, the ambitious plan of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2029, in addition to achieving inclusive economic growth “will be challenging without the inclusion of of persons with disabilities”.
He commended the federal government for the establishment of the NCPD as a parastatal under the the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. “(It) is a welcome development and highly commendable as there is urgent need to prioritise the welfare of persons with disabilities,” he said. While lamenting the non-implementation of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities(Prohibition) Act 2018, he noted that the government has recorded some progress in other areas.
He cited the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey which included a disability module based on the Washington Group on Disability Statistics Short Set of Disability Questions. The cleric added that the module was also in line with the World Bank’s Commitments on Disability Inclusion, with commitment focusing on data collection related to disability.
The inmates of Hopeville got full dose of inspiring words and encouragement to aim for the sky and not recede into the cocoon of self pity and resignation to fate. “We are the best. We are the original version of God,” Mrs. Akinbola told the inmates, adding, “If the society wants to look down on us, tell them we can do what every other person can do”.
She told her personal story of how she refused to allow her disability to limit her aspirations as she carried her education pursuit to the university level. Akinbola went on to win state and national awards during her National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) in Abia State.
Because of her performance, she got automatic employment from Abia State government and was working at the state’s liaison office in Lagos before the national award and the accompanying federal job later came her way.
The award winning disabled lady harped on the need for persons with disabilities to be serious with their education, which according to her “is the weapon you have” in the struggle for survival. For this, she counseled the Hopeville inmates to “take advantage of all the education opportunities that come your way”.
The Deputy Chairman, Isuikwuato Local Government, Hon Rosemary Odoeme, who represented her boss, Hon Chima Agbaeze, added her voice to fire up the Hopeville inmates to always aim high. She reminded them that disability, which could come in any form, was never the making of the victims as nobody sets out to invite disability on oneself.
But the deputy chairman said that disability should be seen as a challenge when it happens. According to her, since disabilities are in most cases irreversible those living with them should accept it as a fact of life and then confront and conquer it and prove, like Mrs. Akinbola and others, that there’s ability in disability.
Testimonies from other PWDs who told their own stories and experiences further reinforced the role of education in transforming the lives of persons with disabilities.
Godwin Ananaba, who is visually impaired said that he was not born blind but after he developed “a stupid eye problem” a quack doctor destroyed his eyes after six operations.
Notwithstanding his condition, Ananaba said he did not succumb to his disability as he went on to become “the first blind man in West Africa to graduate in urban design”.
He urged the inmates of Hopeville to learn from his own experience. “If you are sitting in this hall and you are disabled, if somebody tells you ‘you can’t do it’, tell them you can,” he said, adding, “It must start from your head”.
The Director, Handicapped Services Division, Abia State Library Board, Mr. Friday Onugha tasked nongovernmental organisations to partner government to reach out to PWDs in the rural areas. He said that with adequate funding NGOs could attend to the needs of PWDs in the rural communities, organise trainings and conferences to expose them to new innovations and technologies that could add value to their lives.
There was a general consensus that education was imperative for PWDs to break out of their world of inferiority complex to attain their full potentials. But no one disputed the fact that education opportunities are not readily available for the PWDs.
Despite the limited opportunities in the larger society, Hopeville offers much hope for the PWDs admitted to the Centre. Rev Br. Igbonachom said that the inmates of Hopeville Rehabilitation Centre are trained from primary to tertiary level of education with little or no external assistance.
According to him, the Centre which was set up immediately after the civil war has trained over 50,000 PWDs, adding that inmates are trained to be self reliant. The Hopeville Director said that “readiness to study” is requisite qualification for admission of inmates who must also be in the age bracket of eight to 15 years. For the PWDs, hope really springs from Hopeville.
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While the full extent of disabilities in Nigeria has not been determined, as at 2020 it was estimated that over 27 million Nigerians live with some form of disability. Many of them face a number of human rights abuses including stigmatisation, discrimination, violence, and lack of access to healthcare, housing and education
