• We Had To Beg To Survive, Banks Never Cared About Our Plight
As Nigerians continue to grapple with the pains and hardships caused by the Naira redesign policy being implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), not much attention has been paid to how people with disabilities have coped in the face of the challenge. At a time physically fit Nigerians are slugging it out in bank queues in order to get access to the banks for cash withdrawal, many people with disabilities could not do the same and they were completely left out. When The Explainer moved round Abuja to get the perspectives of people with disabilities, it was a tale of difficulties and a feeling of abandonment by the banks and the rest of the population.
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For Mr. Paul Adumokwu who suffers hearing impairment, the implementation of the cashless policy has been the source of the most difficult situations he found himself in for a while now. The civil servant lamented it has not been easy for him to get cash to pay for his needs. He said: Most times, since this problem started, I have been unable to go to work because I have no cash to transport myself. And even if I go to POS operators, I have to pay expensive charges in order to get the money. Added to this is the difficulty I have in communicating with the people who don’t understand the sign language of a person with hearing impairment.” Mr. Paul therefore resorted to traveling a long distance to meet his uncle’s friend who understands him, and helps him with his cash needs.
“If not for my Uncle’s friend, I would have starved because I don’t know how else I would have been able to get money to meet my daily needs. Even that option is not easy because I always had to budget for the extra cost of transportation.” The story is similar for Ms Grace Ochoche, a resident of Lugbe, who suffers from Albinism. She said: “On this particular sunny afternoon I had to deliver a parcel to my friend who I could not meet up with for some time because of the cash scarcity issue. I had to walk around under the hot sun, which is not advisable for someone like me with the kind of skin condition I have. I could not even get N500 for my transportation.
“The stuff I was to deliver was quite important; if I was a person with a normal skin, I would have stood under the sun to look for a lift, but I could not, and I was more or less stranded and frustrated. I eventually decided to order Bolt; the price was triple my budget. But I had no choice because I could not risk remaining under the sun for longer. This so called cashless policy had effects on me as someone living with albinism. It was also financially draining because I spent beyond my budget.”
According to Ivrene Unongo, an albino who also shared her experience, the cash problem made it extremely difficult to move from home to school. Her words: “I was to travel from Port-Harcourt to Abia for my exams in school. I faced lots of challenges because it was hectic for me to get cash; I had to pay a lot of money to get cash for transportation. The amounts I paid ranged from N200 to N500 to collect N1000. Sometimes I have to beg money from people in other to get cash to cater for my need.
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She continued: “There was a time Access Bank network was totally down and that of Zenith Bank packed up. I could not do any transaction except only at midnight and even Point of Sale machines (POS) were declining cards. I used my GTBank card and I was getting needless deduction from the bank. Then I went to the GTBank at Area 1 in Abia state to block the card. The crowd was just too much; as I attempted to explain my mission to one of the male staff of the bank, he refused to listen to me. He said if I don’t go back he will push me away from the stairs, not even minding my disability. The man was so aggressive and he told me he was not responsible for whatever challenges I am facing. He went ahead to say people don’t care about your disabilities either an albino, crippled, blind or whatsoever.”
Seeing the painful plight of the people with disabilities, non-governmental organizations working to improve their welfare have called on the authorities to take steps, which would alleviate their suffering. This was the position of Ms. Roseline Migbole of the Advocacy for Women with Disabilities Initiative (AWWDI). She said persons with Disabilities are the most affected by the challenge of cash scarcity. She said women with disabilities were also passing through a lot as they find it extremely difficult to gain access to banks to cash their money. According to her, most of them who try, sustained several degrees of injury because of the scuffles, which happened while attempting to join the long queues at Automated Teller Machine (ATM) points.
Her words: “Persons with Disabilities are vulnerable people; they needed to be care for and the government should always put them into consideration whenever they are making policies. This current cash policy has made people with disabilities suffer so much pain, and the banks themselves do not even care about how people with special needs who are their customers can cope in situations like these.” On his part, a member of the Albino Alliance of Nigeria, Mr. Abubakar Adam said persons with disabilities should know their rights and should be able to insist that those rights are respected. According to him, in such situations involving the banks, a person with disability should approach the bank operation manager with boldness make him understand the challenge. He said if nothing is done the persons with disability should report such issues to the appropriate authority like the Central Bank of Nigeria where proper measures will be taken to address any discrimination or maltreatment.
