Of the two paralysed from the waist down, one is a ticketing staff, another cleans a bridge. A third hawks on one leg on a busy expressway. TONY AKOWE and TITILOPE FADARE report on hard-working physically challenged persons in the nation’s capital
They have enough physical challenges to depend on charity as many do. But the begging bowl is not their tool of sustenance.
At age seven, Mohammed Abdullahi was struck by polio, and was crippled from the waist down. That hurt, naturally, but he soon shook off the setback and went to school, ending up at the College of Education, Zuba in the Federal Capital Territory where he studied English.
Opting not to teach, Abdullahi found work as a ticketing staff of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Abuja.
The money is not enough but that is not the point. The point is that his disability is not a death sentence, nor a reason to beg to live. He can do something, he often told himself.
A resident of Zuba on the outskirts of the FCT, Abdullahi told The Nation that even though he sometimes goes home without any money, he decided against begging because of the shame associated with it.
He said, “There is shame in begging. If you meet someone to help you, they can treat you however they like. Personally, I do not like embarrassment because I am learned. It is just because I have not gotten a suitable work. I used to beg; I just stopped because of the treatment I got from people which made me get angry a lot. This was the reason why I joined the union and started with loading of cabs which is currently what I am doing. I have a wife and three children to fend for.”
Asked what his take home is, he said, “I actually do not collect a steady salary from NURTW. But I manage to feed my family and myself to an extent and I am grateful to God for that. When we finish the day’s work, we give everything to the union and whatever remains they give to us. For example, we are to remit N4,000 daily and whatever remains from the money they return to me. So if it is just N4,500 I make for the day, I get N500 as my share. If the money is not up to N4,000 in a day, I will look for money to complete it.”
Abdullahi believes that even though there are people who are always sympathetic towards the plight of the disabled, many others treat them with disdain.
“If you are begging, you will be treated poorly by people but if you get a business, no one will be able to treat you unfairly. They should just try to look for work to do which would be way better for them. If it is possible for the government to help us, they should do so because even the one I am currently doing is not a permanent work; I am just using it to manage myself.
“Personally, I am not happy that they are begging and it is because they have not seen another work to do. I am always willing to change my job to get something better for my family. I have a lot of plans for myself but this condition does not allow me to do them,” he said.
Like Abdullahi, Yahaya Ibrahim has decided to do something else with his life instead of resorting to begging and incurring the wrath of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board. Popularly called Action, Ibrahim is seen daily keeping the Kubwa Bridge tidy. With a broom in hand, he sweeps the bridge and gets rewarded by people using the bridge.
He said, “I’m always with the hope that if I sweep, people would be willing to dash me money or anything they have; I hate begging people.”
He believes that disabled people should do something for themselves instead of begging for alms.
Ibrahim, who hails from Niger State, said he is a tailor having learnt to sew, but has not been able to set up a shop for himself due to lack of resources.
He said physically challenged persons “should go and learn a trade. Using myself as an example, at Zuba Garage I learnt how to sew and the people who taught me how to sew always welcomed anyone to learn how to sew. It is because I do not have enough capital to fund it but I get a little money from little work of sewing and that is what I am using to fend for my wife and my two children combined with the little money I receive from this place.”
On the average, Ibrahim, a father of two, said he takes home about N20,000 monthly from good-spirited Nigerians who appreciate his efforts in keeping the bridge tidy.
Another physically challenged person simply identified as Shehu, a native of Katsina State, goes to the busy Berger area every day on his roller board with a bag hanging on his back. In the bag are wares he that he sells. These include shoe polish, shoe brush and a few other items. Away from the road and under a small shade, he spreads a piece of cloth on the ground and brings out his items, and then sits on a stone close by to wait for buyers. Speaking with The Nation, Shehu said he believes that being handicapped should not be an excuse for anyone to beg, pointing out that he has seen all too often how other handicapped beggars were embarrassed by people who should help them.
He too gets embarrassed but only by officials of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board who move round regularly to clear the street of hawkers.
He appealed to government to consider giving them a place to do business as well as capital to start something away from the streets.
A tour round the Berger area revealed that Shehu is not the only disabled person hawking items in the area. But while some others use their wheelchairs to carry their wares, Shehu does not have the luxury of a wheelchair.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Disability Matters, Dr. Samuel Ankeli said that being disabled is not an excuse to break the law. He appealed to fellow physically challenged people to be law abiding and give the government time to address issues affecting them.
He said: “The law does not discriminate against ability or disability. I will not support lawlessness and at the same time, I will not support idleness and street begging. It is our desire to have some structures and special markets for them. I am already talking with the government of the FCT and very soon, things will be resolved. So, please help me educate them that being disabled does not give you the right to break laws and I don’t want any of them to be manhandled. It is a dynamic thing, but let us balance the pendulum.”
In Gwagwalada area of the FCT, Umaru Shehu is also turning his disability to ability. On one leg he competes for motorists’ patronage with his able-bodied counterparts, selling handkerchiefs, phone chargers and power storage devices. He said that while his disability has often robbed him of a good slice of the market since the able-bodied ones among them get to the customer faster, he has not allowed that to deter him or force him into begging.
Ironically, a few meters away from where Umaru sells his articles, some abled-bodied persons and other disabled ones were seen begging.
Ankeli is not happy that rather than do something with their lives, many disabled persons choose to be on the street begging.
He said: “A lot of our people are in the street begging. But what is the option? I am talking with state government in this. I have been to Kaduna State, Plateau, Katsina and Kogi and I am going to Anambra, Asia, Imo and the other states soon.
“Giving them an income is one of the ways to get them off the streets. It is not even decent for somebody with disability to stand on the street to beg. As we speak, I am also discussing with some agencies and development partners to see how we can get our people employed in other areas. I have inaugurated a committee on para-sports development fund. If you look at the performances in the Olympics in the years gone by, disability has always proven that we are true Nigerians. We gave you all the medals, but what have you done for us? We want to get resources, employ these people, pay them some token, get them from the streets to use the muscles for sports and not for begging. But we don’t have the facilities. I was supposed to be in Dubai to source for facilities, but funds stopped us, but we are going to work hard to go to China. We want to build a facility in Abuja and in the six zones of Nigeria. We will put them in camps, have farm centres, housing estates in a large place where we call city for champions. From there, they will be engaged and get something to eat. I told them during one of our meeting that I need 100 medals during the next Olympics and they have said, give us the resources and I am sure we can get the resources wherever it is located for them.”
