A SIGNAL OF HOPE FOR THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED
The
last time I checked, the overall physically challenged persons in Imo State had
released a sigh of relieve. The gesture was not unconnected with the
pronouncement made by the Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha penultimate week
during his parley with the state chapter of the Joint National Association of
Persons Living with Disabilities. In his words, the governor disclosed that
there was an ongoing construction of a befitting secretariat for the physically
challenged otherwise known as ‘special citizens’ in the state.
The physically challenged whom in most
quarters are addressed as ‘disabled persons’ have over the decades been treated
as second-class individuals by their fellow citizens, particularly in this part
of the world. I stand to be corrected, but the truth remains that this set of
people is often regarded as irrelevant and inconsequential when issues
concerning the polity are discussed. This uncalled attitude of most Nigerians
has made most of them to see themselves as rejected citizens, thereby leading
them to a state of mental degradation.
The most saddening aspect of the absurd
discrimination or mentality is that a majority of the physically challenged
persons is conspicuously, exemplarily brilliant and wise. The time I have spent
with some of them, so far, in various parts of the country disclosed that they
were specially created. For instance, since I have been coming across albinos,
I am sincerely yet to see one that possesses a dull brain; the ones I have come
across were very sound in reasoning, both academically and mentally.
We will start getting it right the moment we
realized that those whom had been relegated to the background, with the
derailed notion that their contributions aren’t needed, are actually the set of
individuals required to salvage the society from its numerous challenges; when
we acknowledge that the rejected stones are, on the contrary, meant to serve as
the house’s pillars; when we truly concur that ‘not all that glitters is gold’.
It’s indeed high time we began
believing without any element of doubt, that physical challenges are not sign
of empty/docile brains; that deafness, for example, does not indicate that the
bearer is daft; that a cripple can do far more than what an ‘athlete’ does;
that a blind man can really lead any society to the promised land, which
suffices to say that leadership is never by sight nor might, but the person’s
reasoning prowess.
Thus, I want to disabuse us in our
entirety that societal uplift can be actualized by involving only individuals
who are physically sound. Away from our presumption, actualization of societal
growth, which we all anticipate, requires only those who are mentally and
socially sound, therefore has nothing to do with physical ability. Physical
soundness is only required in a physical race. But mind you, nowadays, he who
runs most might not be sure of receiving the trophy, but he who thinks most.
This implies that everything is now controlled by thoughts, or one’s ability to
think or initiate ideas.
It’s very appalling that in Nigeria
today, Imo in particular, the physically challenged are nowhere to be found in
the area of governance, with the view that they have nothing to offer. It is
arguably time to change this mindset for the good of the country at large. This
could be what informed Governor Okorocha’s decision to build a befitting
secretariat for the set of citizens in question that have apparently been
forgotten by successive governments.
The Igbo adage would invariably say
‘Osita di nma, ekele Chukwu’ meaning literally, if things eventually start
today to turn around for our good, we have to thank God without minding the
amount of time we have spent in agony. In other words, if truly that the
government has finally remembered the seeming forgotten physically challenged
persons in our midst, they are expected to give thunderous glory to the
Almighty for the eventual blessing.
Like I have always said, pronouncement
of a proposed policy or programme is a good step, whilst its thorough
implementation is a totally different ballgame. It is on this note that I urge
the Rescue Mission Administration not to take the onward completion of the
lofty initiative for granted, for posterity sake. It must take into cognizance
that by dishing out such a commendable pronouncement, the entire Imolites –
both home and abroad – can’t wait to embrace the completion phase of the
project.
Similarly, the initiative shouldn’t
stop at constructing a secretariat. After building the awaited edifice, a
reputable ministry ought to be created for the sake of the physically
challenged. And afterwards, a reliable and competent individual among the
prospective beneficiaries should be appointed to man the said ministry. This
will no doubt go a very long way to alleviate the various plights of the
physically challenged resident in the state.
These
‘special citizens’ must on their part, equally be helpful to themselves by ensuring
that they rephrase their union’s name to Joint Association for Physically
Challenged Persons, by expunging the ‘Persons living with Disabilities’ from
the already existing name. They are physically challenged, not disabled or
‘persons living with disabilities’ as being presumed by them, or in most
quarters. We must change the ongoing impression that a physical challenge is a
disability.
This
move by Gov. Okorocha is undoubtedly a signal of hope, but the concerned
authorities must stick to the needful as the odyssey progresses; so that at the
end, nothing would stop everyone from grinning. Think about it!
Comrade FDN Nwaozor
------------------------------------------
Follow
me: @mediambassador
http://facebook.com/fred4nwaoozr
