UNDERCOVER: After media jamboree, Oyo govt allows Ibadan Rehabilitation Center for the disabled to rot away

In this revealing expose, TOHEEB BABALOLA went undercover to see what has become of one of the rehabilitation centres set up by the Oyo State government many years after PWDs were evacuated from the streets and placed there.

After many months of investigation and observation, the story uncovered a sad development.

A few years ago, the Oyo State Government took a brave decision by moving persons with disabilities (PwDs), homeless children, and beggars from Ibadan’s streets to its numerous rehabilitation facilities spread across the 33 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the State. This made the indigenes including the media praise the governor and his cabinet.

However, following the media stunt, no one inquired about the welfare of the evacuated individuals.

In July 2023, a source contacted this reporter via WhatsApp, claiming that the Rehabilitation Centre for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in Isabiyi Village, Akinyele Local Government, is sickening and totally in moribund condition.

The source made it clear that reporters and photographers are not permitted to enter the premises.

“Hello, there is a Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled Persons at Isabiyi Village in Akinyele Local Government which is in bad condition. All the disabled people are suffering and structures inside there have broken down” the source told Ripples Nigeria.

By carefully examining the source’s claim and researching it, this reporter came to the conclusion that the state government may be attempting to hide something from the general public.

The reporter spent three (3) months planning how to locate the village and how he might enter the premises to discover the entire situation. Fortunately for him, the campaign for the state’s local government election had begun at the time, so he devised a plan to disguise himself as a councilorship aspirant for that specific Local Government who intended to assist PwDs in order to win his ward.

Gaining Entrance into the facility

On Monday, November 6, 2023, this reporter dressed in a sky-blue native outfit with a cap to-march that looked like a politician’s, set out from Ibadan town to Akinyẹle local government. The trip took 35 minutes.

After stopping by the Akinyele market, wherein urban dwellers and local farmers buy and sell pepper and other food crops at wholesale prices, the reporter hopped on a motorcycle to Temidire, located in Isabiyi Village, an impoverished neighbourhood composed of mostly mud homes and a few block houses. He saw the signboard for the Rehabilitation Center, and in less than twenty (20) minutes, he dropped at the junction.

As he entered the street, on the right, there was a large black gate bearing the words “Rehabilitation Center For The Disabled”. He moved towards the gate, and a security woman in a legion uniform asked him “Who are you Sir? and What do you want Sir?”

This reporter told her, “I am Honourable Toheeb Babalola, a Councillorship Aspirant and I am here to see the management to offer help to the disabled”. When she heard this, she opened the gate and asked him to wait at the security post while she sought permission from the management.

She walked to a nearby building, close to the gate, and returned after five minutes to tell the reporter to go to the Principal’s office.

Lack of Feeding Cost for the Disabled

Moving into the Principal’s office, this reporter began observing the surroundings. He met a man who was putting on a singlet and straightening his shirt with a pressing iron. He told this reporter to wait for him.

The man identified himself as Mr. Mustapha Ọlálékan, Vice Principal of the Centre without knowing that he was speaking with a journalist. This reporter informed him (Mustapha) that he was running for Councillor in a ward in that local government and had come to see what he could do to support the centre in order to entice voters.

“My Honourable sir, there are many challenges in this place. All the handicapped here are lacking regular feeding, many of the remaining students are yet to take their breakfast at the moment. Also, the Workshops, Hostels and some of the classrooms have broken-down” he told Ripples Nigeria.

He stated that the Oyo State Ministry of Women Affairs, Social and Community Development oversees the centre, adding, that the monthly allowance, which covers PwDs’ food, medical expenses, and worker salaries, is ₦445,000.00 as at November, 2023. He continued by saying that the centre is not getting the money from the government on time.

“Thank God for the philanthropists that come here once in a while to give charity for the sake of the students. In the past, this place was crowded with many physically challenged persons. If you go round now, everywhere is bushy” Mustapha told this reporter.

Realising these problems, this reporter asked further if Mustapha could take him round to those dilapidated facilities, to which he agreed.

Dilapidated Structures

Mustapha guided the reporter around to take pictures of the buildings. Along the way, the reporter noticed mentally challenged persons wandering around the bad infrastructures and appearing ill and malnourished.

State of Col. Ahmed Usman Boys’ Hostel

This hostel at the centre was commissioned during the military administration of Ahmed Usman in 1998. At the moment, bees have taken over every room in this hostel. Every room has cobwebs covering the angles, and all of the windowpanes are broken, allowing rainwater to enter and wet the occupants. Some mentally disabled people were seen sleeping on the bare floor in each of the rooms. This reporter discovered tattered clothes and old iron bed frames missing beds that had been rotting for years.

Abandoned Toilet and Bathrooms

Apart from the rooms, dried-up human waste from years of drying out clogs the toilets, bathrooms, and floors. Most of the ceiling of the corridors are leaking and broken down. This reporter covered his nostrils, but the stench emanating from them attacked, causing him to spit multiple times.

Stats of Lam Adesina building Workshop

This workshop, commissioned by the late former governor, His Excellency Lamidi Adesina, on March 7, 2000, has three classrooms, none of which is being used for lectures due to their poor condition. Inside these classrooms, all asbestos ceilings, windows, and doors have collapsed. This reporter saw physically challenged children moving under it.

Bushy Workshop

There is an abandoned old workshop that had been engulfed by elephant grasses for a long time. Inside, there is firewood and goats’ feces but no training equipment.

Lack of Vocational Equipment

The building designated for specific professions was also shown to this reporter by Mustapha. The Center offers a practical workshop for trades like sewing, hair salon work, weaving, and shoemaking as part of its program to engage students in various vocation training. Nevertheless, the workshop lacks necessary tools for several of the aforementioned trades. The shoemaking workshop is the only one in operation.

Hair salon with no tools

This reporter noticed a wall mirror, a desk without any tools, and a catalogue in the saloon area. He found no students in the room and the trainers dozing off on a sofa in a corner.

“This is one of the workshops that require electric equipment like hair drier, clippers, shampoo and others” Mustapha said to this reporter while introducing him to the trainers.

Fashion Designing room without sewing machines

As the reporter entered the fashion room, all she could see were the sewing machines’ legs—the main heads had been removed.

Shoemaking room

At the shoemaking room, Mustapha introduced this reporter to two trainers, one of whom is deaf and communicates through sign language. They were making shoes; there were no students present, but the room was full of sewing machines and ready-made shoes.

After showing this reporter around, Mustapha led him to a classroom where approximately 15 physically challenged students were having a session with their mobility impaired teacher, who was in a wheelchair. This reporter informed Mustapha that he would like to take a photograph with the students for his campaign strategy. He collected the reporter’s phone and took three pictures.

Free Exit

Having gathered all the necessary images and information, this reporter went to meet Mustapha at his office, pledging to return with gifts so that the disabled could celebrate his birthday in December 2023. This reporter said he would forward those pictures to a serving senator who will also renovate the buildings.

With the mindset to have hosted a candidate for councillorship, he provided this reporter with his contact information for follow-up communication.

When the reporter left the principal’s office, a five-year-old boy ran to greet him. A man, who seemed to have replaced the woman, appeared from the security post and yelled at him (boy).

“This boy is an orphan and was brought here by the government years back” the security man revealed to this reporter.

The reporter gave the boy a ₦100 note before he let go. This reporter exited the premises around 12:06 p.m.

How the Centre is run

This rehabilitation centre is run like a secondary school which has Principal, Vice Principal, Staff and Persons with impairments (students). It used to admit students after the submission of admission forms by their parents or guardians. Now, with its current situation, no parent brings their wards there. The remaining students are those people the government brought from the streets.

According to Mustapha, “This place is under the state government, we used to appeal to parents to bring their physically challenged wards down here to learn one or two vocations, and now it is from the state government down here. We currently have about 40 students. All those people you are seeing were brought from the streets. It was Akala and Ajimobi regimes we had graduations last”

He stated further that the state government is aware of the challenges confronting the centre for a long time now. He revealed that Special Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Disability Matters, Mr. Olufemi Timothy together with his friends came to the centre to celebrate his birthday.

Eleven (11) Months After

Months after the undercover, this reporter was observing if the Oyo State Government would do something about the rehabilitation centre or his identity be known as a result of unfulfilled promises he made for Mustapha.

On Saturday, October 12, 2024, exactly eleven months later, this reporter called Mustapha using a different number while feigning to be the manager of the Ibukunoluwa Foundation. He said that his non-profit organisation is searching Oyo State for rehabilitation centres to renovate, asking if there are any structures in poor condition over there.

After two hours of sending the message, Mustapha responded to him without asking for his name.

“In fact, the structures are in very critical condition. It’s one of the challenges facing the centre presently” Mustapha responded

He also confirmed to the reporter that he is now the Principal of the centre.

Fiscal Budgets for Ministry of Women Affairs, Social and Community Development between 2019 and 2023

Oyo State Government assigns the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion to oversee this centre, which means that there ought to be a monthly or yearly budget for the centre.

Since Mustapha had earlier stated that the Ministry only provided N445,000.00 per month for food, medical care, and repairs, this reporter took the time to review the Ministry’s fiscal budget for both recurrent and capital expenditure from 2020 to 2024.

The state government has allotted ₦209 million, ₦479.4 million, ₦783.8 million, ₦561.3 million, and ₦1.7 billion for the Ministry’s total expenses in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively. Despite this, evacuated persons with disabilities are still suffering under the moribund structures.

Reactions from the State Government

Speaking with the reporter on phone call, on September 13th, 2024, Director General of the Oyo State Agency for Persons with Disabilities, Ayodele Adekanmbi, confirmed that the agency is aware of the moribund structures and other issues at the rehabilitation centre, noting he has visited there several times.

Mr. Adekanmbi disclosed that the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion is in charge of overseeing rehabilitation centres; the agency is not intended to renovate any rehabilitation centres.

“We are a supervising agency and not meant to be renovating schools but because of the importance of the place, we have been pushing for the Ministry to hand it over to us. We got approval to renovate only in April 2024 after our budget scaled through government processes, and I recently travelled to Canada to get contractors” Mr. Adekanmbi said

Responding to lack of feeding of students, he said the agency has nothing to say about it, that the query should be directed to the Ministry. “Our agency doesn’t deal with feeding, we cannot say anything because it is not part of our roles. Go to the Ministry and ask them” He said.

Olufemi Timothy, Governor Seyi Makinde’s Special Assistant on Disability Matters, told Ripples Nigeria via WhatsApp that his birthday is in February, not July, and declined to answer questions where he celebrated it last year.

In an interview with this newspaper on Friday, October 18, 2024 at her office, the Oyo State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Toyin Balógun, confirmed that she had visited the center many times and is fully aware of its bad condition. She said that the centre is one of the institutions that have been identified for renovation and upgrade.

Mrs. Balogun also affirmed that she knows that the feeding of the PwDs in that centre is inadequate, stating that budgetary provisions have been forwarded for approval in the forthcoming fiscal year.

“When I came on board, I reviewed the feeding situation of PwDs and I discovered that the provision for feeding is nearly inadequate. The rehab Centre and other institutions have been put together in a memo for approval as regards feeding with consideration of the present economic reality. So, we are presently expecting the approval of the review of the welfare package for the inhabitants.

“What I can confirm to you is that the existing provision (₦445,000) I met on ground and I have recommended much more than that which is still under review and I assure that by the time of approval all the needs of the occupants would be taken care of. It will be much better than what it was in the past” Balogun said.

Balogun said that the ministry is currently collaborating with mental health professionals and non-profit organisations to fix health related issues of the PwDs in that centre, promising that all the identified situations would be rectified soon.

“There is no disagreement between the Ministry and the Agency for PwD. We have had engagement with them but whatever is to be handed over it has to go in line with due process. Officers of the Ministry of Justice will have to draft documents to facilitate handover. We are all in government and we have a good relationship” Balogun responded to Adekanmbi’s claim.

Origin of Rehabilitation Centres in Nigeria

The establishment of Rehabilitation Centres in Western Nigeria began shortly after Major General Yakubu Gowon’s Military Government declared Special Education for all physically disabled citizens in 1975. During that period, Moniya Rehabilitation Centre was established for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). It is located in Isabiyi village, Akinyele Local Government, Oyo State.

At that time, the Military Government constructed Workshops, Classrooms, Hostels, and Management Blocks on an acre of land for all rehabilitation centres across the nation, with the express purpose of housing and offering inclusive education to children and adults with mental, cognitive, hearing, sight, and mobility disabilities. Through practical demonstration, the government made sure that there were sufficient resources available to enable disabled people pursue careers in fields like weaving, shoemaking, farming, cooking, hairdressing/barbing, storytelling, and singing.

The 1993 Disability Decree, introduced by the coup led by Major General Ibrahim Babangida, solidified the responsibilities of rehabilitation facilities and encouraged the employment of individuals with special needs. This decree allocated 10% of the workforce to these individuals following their training at vocational rehabilitation centres, and it called for the establishment of more centres to develop and enhance the skills and potentials of these individuals.

Col. Ahmed Usman, the military administrator in Oyo State at the time, built a second Boys Hostel inside the Moniya Rehabilitation Center in 1998. His wife, Mrs. Fatimah Usman, put the hostel into operation a year before the return to the civilian government.

In 1999, the military administrators handed over power to civilians and established a new constitution. Consequently, the Oyo State Government, under the direction of the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community Development, and Social Welfare, pushed to oversee the Moniya Rehabilitation Center for PwDs.

What experts and critics say?

Abideen Olasupọ, global director of Brain Builder Youth Initiatives,  stated that the Nigerian government should not be mocking sustainable development when PwDs are being kept apart in run-down conditions and lack the necessary tools to develop their skills.

He suggested that all tiers of government issue calls for bids and proposals so that environmental groups that deal with infrastructure and products that are accessible can join forces to save PwDs in that facility.

“If sustainable efforts are not taken into consideration, the rehabilitation centre’s poor condition will undoubtedly affect the long-term wellbeing and inclusion of physically challenged  people.” Mr. Olasupọ revealed.

Yinka Olaito, Executive Director of the Centre for Disability and Inclusion Africa (CDIA), cited corruption, greed, and a lack of understanding of the fact that every human being has the right to a decent standard of living and well-being as reasons for the centre’s neglect.

“Poor infrastructure, lack of adequate resources for PwDs in the centre is a reflection of how society treats them. The society’s view of charity model where PWDS are not seen as humans but just liabilities who need to be pitied and given hand outs, or worn out items is clearly reflected here, But unknown to the government or agencies involved, that is a clear violation of their rights in many ramifications” Olaito revealed

 

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