By Muhammad Nasir
Sokoto, July 29, 2021
The District Head of Gagi in Sokoto State, Alhaji Sani Umar Jabbi, has called for more support to physically challenged persons to overcome Gender Based Violence (GBV) challenges in the country.
Umar-Jabbi urged stakeholders to increase provision of economic empowerment opportunities for the less privileged persons in the nation.
He made the appeal on Thursday in Sokoto at a one-day awareness workshop on GBV and reproductive health among physically challenged women.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Building Hopes on the Wheels Initiative, in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The participants are physically challenged persons from Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano and Kaduna States.
He urged governments at all levels to evolve policy measures towards impacting positively on the lives of the physically challenged.
According to him, majority of the people living in poverty in many places around the world are physically challenged.
“Being poor and physically challenged makes them more vulnerable to oppression and assault,” he said.
Umar-Jabbi also called on civil society groups and corporate entities to play roles in the well-being of physically challenged people in their midst.
“Many of them can be assisted to acquire education. We have to do everything possible to reduce their level of dependency and vulnerability,” he said.
Earlier, Hajiya Amina Audu, the Executive Director, Building Hopes on the Wheels Initiative, said the workshop was strategic and well-intended.
Audu said that there was need for stakeholders to collaborate towards supporting physically challenged people in the society.
“We need to help them to understand their rights, privileges and responsibilities, this will enable them take the right actions,” she said.
Also speaking, Hajiya Hassana Mika’ilu, Head, Counseling and Rehabilitation, National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, said the agency had recorded several cases of abuse on physically challenged persons.
Mika’ilu however urged physically challenged persons to speak out and seek help when oppressed or intimidated.
“Many organisations are willing to provide support, nobody is created to be oppressed, we are all equal before the law,” she said.
