By OBINNA UNAEZE

The Niger chapter of the Joint National Association of Persons Living with Disability (JNAPLD) on Monday protested against alleged neglect of their members in the current Special Public Works (SPW) scheme of the Federal Government.

Malam Isah Abdullahi, JNAPLD Chairman in the state, made this known when he led members on a peaceful protest to the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Minna.

“We want the whole world to know that we have been shortchanged as the authorities in charge did not operate according to the directive of the federal government,” he alleged.

Abdullahi said that the federal government directed that 5 per cent of the total slots allocated to each state should be reserved for physically-challenged persons.

He decried a situation where less than one per cent was allocated to them in the state.

The Chairman said instead of their group getting 1,250 slots for the 25 local government areas in the state, only 50 slots were released in Gbako and Lavun local government areas, leaving out 23 local government areas.

He said that they also protested to the state office of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) but the State Director, Alhaji Abdulmalik Abubakar, did not give any satisfactory answer to their plight.

When contacted the state Commissioner for Youth, Mr Emma Umar, said that the state chapter of the JNAPLD has a member on the state allocating committee for the scheme.

“If there is any problem, they should hold their representative accountable,” he said.

Umar, who promised that government will do something about it, appealed for calm, saying “It is a standing order by the government which must be implemented.”

The Commissioner told newsmen that another group, People in Internally Displaced People’s Camps, has earlier complained that they were not carried along in the process.

According to him, “all these problems will be addressed.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the SPW scheme is expected to empower 774,000 Nigerians, 1,000 each from the 774 local government areas across the country.

In Niger 25,000 persons are expected to benefit from the scheme. (NAN)

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