Three visually-impaired siblings in the agricultural business in Ago-Are, Atisbo Local Government, Oyo State, have despatched a Save-Our-Souls (SOS) to Governor Seyi Makinde requesting for a bail-out to enable them overhaul their ageing multi-purpose grinding machine, which they described as the power house of their enterprise.
The siblings – Sa’adu Isiaka, Nasir Isiaka and Suleiman Isiaka – told newsmen that the agric busness, which is their main source of livelihood, is on the brink of collapse as the crumbling, two-decade-old machine requires total overhauling.
Our correspondent reports that the Isiaka Brothers’ enterprise, which engages in the grinding of yam flour, cassava and maize, among others, has blossomed along the ages to be one of the leaders in the agrarian community.
The three men told journalists their visual impairment arose from a strange disease that affected them one after the other.
The eldest of them, Sa’adu, was initially a professional radio mechanic, while Nasir trained as a motorcycle mechanic. The youngest, Suleiman, was an automobile mechanic.
However, when the three of them could no longer effectively practise their trades as a result of the eye problem, they resolved not to engage in street begging. Rather, they struggled to pool resources and ventured into the grinding enterprise.
They enthused it has been a rewarding experience so far.
But presently, with the deteriorating condition of the machine, life for the three blind entrepreneurs is fast becoming a nightmare as they can now hardly make ends meet.
They said that virtually all proceeds from their daily operations now go into endless repair of the malfunctioning machines.
The spokesman for the trio, Sa’adu, regretted that a pledge by the immediate past administration in Oyo State to ameliorate their predicament was not redeemed till its expiration, despite repeated reminders.
“Up till date, our file is still lying in the Office of the Commissioner for Women Affairs at the State Secretariat in Ibadan,” Sa’adu said, while appealing to Governor Seyi Makinde to “be passionate enough and extend his milk of human kindness” to them.
Sa’adu expressed the hope that with the machine fully rehabilitated, or more importantly, they were able to procure a new one, their hopes would be revived.
Incidentally, the Oyo State government participated actively in this year’s edition of the International Day Of Persons With Disability marked last week Tuesday with a rally oganised through the Office of the Executive Assistant to the Governor, Barrister Ayodele Adekanmbi.
The government had used the occasion to announce its determination to continue to create an enabling environment for persons with disability to excel, much more so as, “a policy is being put in place that every local government will have a person with disability as a member of the soon-to-be-inaugurated local government caretaker committees.”
In a related development, the Care People Foundation, on Monday, provided succour to over 50 different schools caring for the physically challenged and motherless babies in the south west states by donating cash and materials to them.
The Foundation donated the gifts during its 2019 carnival programme for people living with disabilities at its camp on the Ibadan-Lagos expressway.
The gifts donated were new wheel chairs, scholarship to thousands of pupils and students, computer training, foodstuffs and financial assistance to those willing to study further.
The president and convener of the Foundation, Reverend Paul Tunde Tioluwani, in his address at the event, described the act of neglecting the poor and physically challenged children as an act of overlooking the flow of electron in a live-wire, with terrible consequences.
Tioluwani applauded Gov Makinde for including some physically challenged personas in his administrative cabinet.
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