By Patrick Titus, Uyo
Persons with disabilities (PwDs) in oil communities of Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State have benefited from the empowerment schemes of NNPC/SEPNU Joint Venture Ibeno Host Community Development Trust (HCDT).
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Samuel Thomas, who told journalists in Uyo, said a person with a disability serves on its Board of Trustees, while another has been employed as an accountant, underscoring its commitment to promoting equal opportunities for all members of its host communities.
Mr. Thomas, spoke while receiving a delegation from the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) during an advocacy visit to the Trust last week.
Thomas said the Trust was determined to ensure that persons with disabilities were not excluded from its development programmes.
“I will not call them persons with disabilities; I call them people with special abilities,” he said.
Highlighting the Trust’s interventions, Thomas said about seven persons with disabilities had benefited from its empowerment scheme, while hearing aids had been procured and distributed to support beneficiaries.
He added that children and wards of persons with disabilities had also benefited from the Trust’s scholarship programme, providing them with opportunities to pursue their education.
Beyond its disability-focused interventions, the chairman said the Trust had empowered more than 500 indigenes through various programmes aimed at improving livelihoods and developing human capacity in its host communities.
According to him, undergraduate students receive scholarships of ₦250,000 per academic session, while those who attain a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of at least 3.5 are awarded ₦400,000 to encourage academic excellence.
Thomas said the initiatives reflected the Trust’s broader commitment to human capital development and improved living standards among members of its host communities.
He, however, called on CCD to develop a comprehensive database of persons with disabilities in Ibeno to enable the Trust to identify their needs and design interventions that directly address their challenges.
“For us to plan well and be able to reach out to everybody, we need to have a database,” he said, urging persons with disabilities to remain united, support one another and work collectively towards improving their welfare.
Earlier, the Akwa Ibom State Coordinator of CCD, Mr. Joseph Atang, commended the Trust’s inclusive development efforts but called for greater access to empowerment programmes, scholarships, employment opportunities and other benefits for persons with disabilities.
Atang stressed that disability should not prevent anyone from participating in community development, insisting that PwDs must be actively involved in community consultations, needs assessments and decision-making processes.
He noted that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which provides the framework for the establishment and operation of Host Community Development Trusts, should deliver benefits to all members of host communities without discrimination.
“Our concern is to ensure that persons with disabilities, who are also members of these communities, are not overlooked in the implementation of the Act,” he said.
The CCD coordinator maintained that development projects could not be considered complete if persons with disabilities were unable to access or use them.
He said the organisation remained committed to promoting independent living, human rights and the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in development processes, with support from the Ford Foundation.
The advocacy visit underscored the need for sustained collaboration between the Ibeno HCDT and disability rights organisations to strengthen existing interventions, identify beneficiaries and expand opportunities for persons with disabilities to participate fully in community development.
