Persons With Disabilities Lament Neglect, Discrimination

Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area chapter, Bayelsa State, has bemoaned their under-representation and neglect by leaders of the area and government at all levels.

They stated this when a delegation of JONAPWD in the area, led by its president, Salvation Enoch, visited Alagoa Morris, Head of the Environmental Rights Action Niger Delta Resource Centre in Yenagoa, the state capital, on Monday.

Enoch lamented that they had been denied access to their representatives in government, particularly in the executive and legislative arms where they had hoped to be given an audience to express themselves and state their challenges.

He said they had written several letters to various leaders and representatives but discovered that their letters were not usually delivered to them.

Responding, Alagoa Morris, a foremost environmental and community rights activist, called on the Bayelsa State Governor, DouyeDiri and relevant government authorities to pay special attention to the physically challenged persons.

He urged the governor to extend his administration’s welfare scheme for the elderly to persons with disabilities as well so that they could also receive monthly stipends and have a sense of belonging in the state.