Persons With Disabilities Want Buhari To ‘Jail These Corrupt Officials’ To Prove Anti-Corruption Claim

The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prove his commitment to the fight against corruption by ensuring that corrupt persons in government are sent to jail.

The group made the call on Wednesday during a radio programme, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, organized by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development (PRIMORG).

Speaking through its spokesperson, Obinna Ekujereonye, the group urged the president to ensure the prosecution of corrupt government officials who steal from the disabled.

The group specifically appealed to President Buhari to take action on an investigative report that allegedly indicted the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development for spending N275 million on non-existing ‘Rehabilitation Institutes for Persons With Disabilities’.

“I’m advocating for jail term and I know a lot of people are advocating for it. if you leave these corrupt officials to go the way they are going, I tell you, the corruption will keep increasing by the day.

“I want the government to really look into this corruption issue. I think the government said they are fighting corruption but I don’t think they are doing their best and I don’t know if it is lip-service or they truly mean the fight against corruption.

“What the government should do is at least let us see someone who stole N1 million jailed for ten, twenty or thirty years.”

Ekujereonye lamented the delay in passing the Persons With Disabilities Act into law, while commending the federal government for setting up the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

“This bill has been part of the act and we have it in our kits but the problem remains implementation.

“If you go to public buildings, most of them don’t have lifts or parking lots for persons with disabilities. If the commission is set up fully, I think after five years they will begin to pursue and make sure this act is implemented to the latter,” Ekujereonye said.

Peace Oriaku Ezekiel, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), also spoke on the programme.

Ezekiel regretted that most Nigerians and majority of the 25 million Nigerians with disabilities were not aware of the N275m allegedly approved for the non-existing institute.

“Corruption started a very long time and our government said they are fighting corruption and we have not seen much of what they have done,” Ezekiel said, adding that, “We have a project to strengthen citizens’ resistance against the prevalence of corruption which we have run for five years, they are; Scrap-C project, and Upright for Nigeria Campaign. We have it in Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna states and in Abuja. This project helped us to build persons with disabilities on resisting corruption.”

The association recalled President Buhari had in 2019 ordered the transfer of the Department of Rehabilitation from the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management.

Co-convener of the programme, Adaobi Obiabunmuo, claimed that both ministries did not respond to invitation to join the programme.