Members of Niger Delta Great Minds Foundation of People with Deformities (NDGMFPD), yesterday disrupted vehicular traffic on Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway when they besieged the entrance of the NDDC headquarters, protesting neglect and abandonment by the commission.
The protest did not only paralyse business activities at the commission as workers and visitors were prevented from accessing the entrance into the agency’s premises, but also saw the disruption of human and vehicular traffic on both sides of the critical federal highway, for over four hours.
This resulted in serious inconveniences for Port Harcourt residents and those living and doing business in the capital of the Niger Delta as many vehicles had to divert their journeys through other routes while some passengers, who could not waste the whole day in the traffic gridlock had to walk on through the distance from Presidential Hotel Bus Stop to Waterlines Junction before boarding another commercial vehicle to Garrison-Isaac Boro Park.
Officials of NDDC claimed that the President of the group, Mr. Emotonye Azikiwe, had said they were at the commission’s head office to demand the sum of N3million promised them during a courtesy visit of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities to the NDDC Managing Director, Mr. Nsima Ekere.
The interventionist agency said Azikiwe complained that some of them came from different states in the Niger Delta, and therefore, needed to be assisted with some money for transport to return to their various destinations.
But in an interview with The Tide at the NDDC gate, yesterday, NDGMFPD Chairman in Bayelsa State, Duoduo Binaebi said that they were not part of the three groups, which the commission agreed to give N3million, during a joint visit.
Binaebi demanded that NDDC pay the group N7million to enable them celebrate December 3, set aside by the United Nations to find ways of providing support to people living with disabilities in the region, adding that apart from the N7million, they also needed wheelchairs and others to enable them fend for themselves.
Also speaking, Napoleon Omoya said that apart from the provision of wheelchairs, clutches and others, the commission was expected to give 10 per cent employment to the disabled persons, but regretted that the agency has failed to do so since its inception, insisting that they would barricade the NDDC gates until the management implements the needful.
Addressing the protesters, the Director of Corporate Affairs of NDDC, Mr Ibitoye Abosede reaffirmed the commissions commitment to providing necessary support for members of the group to earn sustainable livelihood.
It would be recalled that during the visit of the umbrella group, Ekere had formally recognized JONAPWD as the clearing platform for people living with disabilities in the region.
The Tide learnt that four groups, including the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Niger Delta Great Minds Foundation of People with Deformities (NDGMFPD), Niger Delta Coalition of Persons with Disabilities (NDCPD), and Non-Achievers Disabled Association (NADA), had recently formed an eight-man committee, which visited the NDDC management, recently.

By: Susan Serekara-Nwikhana  & Edwin Agbadam.