…the plight of Persons With Disabilities
Amina Yahaya was seated in her moveable wheelchair when Dataphyte correspondent met her in the Suleja area of Niger State. Originally from Minna, she moved to Suleja to beg for alms due to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s cashless policy.
Amina Yahaya Pic: Dataphyte
Yahaya told Dataphyte that she used to operate a small shop before the policy took effect. The business collapsed due to her inability to access cash, so she resorted to begging.
She said at some point before she decided to beg for alms, she struggled to visit her bank in search of cash but was told by security officials that there was none.
She said that she could not do transfers and had no knowledge of mobile banking.
Yahaya is one of the over 25 million persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
She is not the only disabled person affected by the CBN’s cashless policy. Dataphyte visited different locations in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) and Niger State. It was observed that several disabled petty traders moved out of their bases after the cashless policy came into force.
Already, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) are hard hit by poverty in Nigeria, with nine out of every ten PWDs said to be living below the poverty line -a situation worsened by the scarcity of cash in the country.
“There used to be two persons with disabilities selling different items here, but we stopped seeing them since the issue of cash scarcity began. It is quite understandable because even though I am struggling with my business, I can understand why they may not come again,” a Niger State resident, Sulaimon Abdullahi, noted.
Mohammed Ilyasu is another PWD that resorted to hawking sachet water with the hope of survival after the CBN policy came into effect.
Mohammed Ilyasu Pic: Dataphyte
Narrating his experience to Dataphyte, he said he used to operate a tricycle. Due to his disability, he could not operate it well, and the owner took it away from him.
He then resorted to selling some petty items and relying on donations from benevolent individuals to survive. However, since the introduction of the cashless or naira redesign policy, his sales had dropped, and he could not continue the business.
“I did not receive donations even again, and my wares stopped too. So, despite my condition and the fact that I can walk, I have resorted to hawking sachet water, with the hope of survival, it worsens my condition, but it is what I can do to survive,” he noted.
Ilyasu said he did not have a bank account and would not be able to operate any cashless transaction.
Adamu Abdul, who has resorted to full-time begging in the face of the government’s cashless policy, told Dataphyte that even that had not helped much.
Adamu Abdul Pic: Dataphyte
“When I did not find any alternative and I could not even do a transfer because I do not have a bank account nor money to transfer, I resorted to begging full time,” Abdul, who operates a nano business, told Dataphyte.
Before the cashless policy implementation, he usually relied on POS operators to send money home as he did not have a bank account. At the moment, however, with his menial business gone, he gets N5 and N10 while begging for alms and he barely survives on these.
A report earlier said that PWDs in Abia State had noted that they were worst hit by the CBN’s cashless policy, seeking support to survive the situation.
Access problem
Dataphyte gathered that the issue of access to banks and POS is a bigger problem for PWDs.
The immediate past Anambra State Chapter Chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities and retired civil servant, Lawrence Nwaolue, told Dataphyte that he sustained injuries while trying to access N3000 cash from a commercial bank.
“What I am suffering right now is that I was trying to access cash, and I was pushed down from the queue. I sustained injuries in the process,” he said.
He noted that the lack of access to cash had been a massive problem for PWDs, noting that banks discouraged the use of ATMs by persons with disabilities due to the activities of fraudsters. He said any transaction he wanted to carry out must be inside the bank, noting that the current situation had made him worse off.
“You can imagine what people who have crippled faces, persons in wheelchairs face, I have tried to reach those in authority, but there has been no success. At least they should help us,” Lawrence pleaded.
He asked the CBN to relax the policy and allow cash dispensing.
The North-Central representative of the National Right Commission for Persons with Disabilities, Esther Andrew-Awu, told Dataphyte that the cashless policy crisis had hit the PWDs.
She opined that the rush with which the CBN introduced the redesign and its policies caught everybody unawares.
Narrating an incident at a bank where an amputee went to withdraw money due to the policy, Esther noted that the PWD, after staying for hours trying to access cash, started to shake. She further said that disabled persons were sometimes trampled upon or pushed while trying to access banks or cash.
According to her, the conditions of PWDs made it impossible for them sometimes to access cashless transactions through mobile phones or applications.
“For instance, I am blind, and the mobile phones are designed in a way that makes it hard for me to do transfers. I am not that literate in that area, and this is a challenge faced by many persons with one disability or the other,” she noted.
She further stated that it was hard for PWDs to patronise POS because of its cost.
“Imagine persons who have little money, with no jobs, having to pay such rates charged by POS operators.”
The former Chairman of the Osun State Chapter of the Joint National Association of Persons with disabilities, Samuel Kehinde, told Dataphyte that PWDs were hurt by cash scarcity.
He noted that banks had also been unable to prioritise PWDs due to the cashless policy.
“Unlike in the past where PWDs get help, we are currently helpless,” he noted.
It has been reported severally that PWDs are facing difficulties in accessing banks and other financial institutions, a situation worsened by the cashless policy of the CBN.
PWDs call for preparation, inclusion
Esther pleaded with the government to ensure that there was adequate time for trial if the policies like the naira redesign were going to be introduced again.
“We will sensitise ourselves and our members on the need to learn things like transfers. Although these challenges we face as PWDs continue to abound given the developments, we cannot but look after ourselves,” Esther concluded.
Samuel Kehinde said that there was a need for the inclusion of PWDs in policy formulation by the government.
“The government needs to consider PWDs in the formulation of policies. There should be some considerations. The CBN also needs to be open in its formulation of policies. Banks should be encouraged to treat PWDs nicely, as many bank personnel treat us with disdain, which is a key issue,” he stated.
Lawrence Nwaolue noted that there was hope that the newly-announced directives of the CBN to banks on dispensing old naira notes would ease the sufferings of PWDs.
“We are monitoring the situation before deciding the next line of action, and we hope this announcement helps PWDs,” he stated.