Only eight of the 22,000 persons with disability in Taraba State were absorbed in the state’s civil service, says Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD).
The Secretary-General of JONAPWD, Taraba chapter, Aliyu Mohammed, Wednesday, expressed sadness at the neglect of Persons With Disability (PWDs) by the state government.
He spoke to the media shortly after the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) trained his members on disaster management.
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Stressing that 85 per cent of PWDs are learned, he wondered why the state government has not deemed it fit to carry them along.
Mohammed, who also lamented that none of his members was co-opted into the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Taskforce in the state, said: “We are left behind by the government for unknown reasons. We believe there is COVID-19 pandemic, but we were not carried along; none of us was nominated as a member of the task force that went round to ensure adherence to the precautionary measures.”
While calling on the government to include PWDs in its activities, he urged the Red Cross, to reaching out to the government on their behalf.
Responding, the Disaster Management Coordinator of NRCS in Taraba, Bello Joda, said the society would work round the clock to table PWDs’ demands to the governing board.