Despite Nigeria’s disability commitments, people living with albinism in Bayelsa State lament lack of inclusion in state policies, financial support, and healthcare despite high vulnerability to sun-related illness, writes SAMUEL ESE

The absence of melanin in the human skin results in albinism, a form of disability, that makes those suffering the disability vulnerable to sunlight, which also makes them susceptible to skin cancer.

At a recent workshop in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, organised by the Albinism Association of Nigeria on Nigeria’s commitments at the 2025 Global Disability Summit, participants heard some heart-rending challenges facing people living with albinism in the state, writes Samuel Ese.

Call for inclusivity

When Dr Bisi Bamishe, Executive Director, Albinism Association of Nigeria, delivered her keynote address on Wednesday, May 28 in Yenagoa at the workshop to appraise Nigeria’s commitments at the Global Disability Summit, she honed on the need to integrate those living with albinism into mainstream society.

Bamishe decried discriminatory practices against people living with disabilities across Nigeria and called for the immediate implementation of the nation’s commitments at the GDS in Germany in April 2025.

According to her, the media roundtable was to engage the media to understand the challenges those living with disabilities faced due to their God-given nature and help in amplifying their voices.

The media roundtable was also aimed at engaging conversations around Nigeria’s commitments to over 800 resolutions at the GDS and how to address discrimination against people living with disabilities across the country.

Bamishe urged the federal and state governments, and Nigerians to discourage discrimination against people with disabilities including albinism as they have made significant contributions to societal growth and development.

Bamishe also urged the Federal Government to adhere to the commitment made at the GDS by highlighting who those living with albinism were, why they mattered and how they could improve on their lives.

She said, “Through strategic community outreach, policy advocacy, and public education, people with albinism have made significant strides in improving access to healthcare, education and employment opportunities.

“Our ongoing push for the implementation of the National Policy on Albinism in Nigeria reflects our resolve to drive systematic change that empowers People With Albinism to thrive in the society.

“We have the mission to unite and protect the rights and interests of persons with albinism against discrimination and marginalization in the society, while pursuing the vision to attain a fair, secure and socially inclusive society that empowers members and provides unfettered access to opportunities for self-fulfilment and dignity of human life.

“Media should help us strengthen government efforts by showcasing positive actions and encouraging broader implementation of the disability inclusive policies.

“Let’s support efforts to raise awareness about albinism, promote understanding and combat discrimination. Nigerian government has made significant strides in addressing albinism with a focus on legal protection, social inclusion and addressing the socio-economic challenges faced by people with albinism, but we need media support to amplify our voices.”

Also speaking, the member representing Yenagoa Constituency 1 in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon. Ayibanegiyefa Egba, urged persons living with albinism to always prepare themselves for opportunities and not allow the colour of their skin to deter them from pursuing their dreams.

Egba disclosed that the House of Assembly was in the process of domesticating the law on disability which had passed through the second reading.

Patron of the Bayelsa State Chapter of AAN, Chief Nengi James, who is also the Second Vice President of the Ijaw National Congress, said the state government has made significant strides in the employment and appointment of people with disabilities.

James, however noted that no person living with albinism had been given state appointment so far as majority of all those appointed were those with physical disabilities and spinal cord disorders.

He stressed that persons living with albinism were also human beings and that there was no reason to treat them otherwise because of their skin colour.

Tale of exclusion

It is lamentable that even in the larger disability family in Bayelsa State, people living with albinism are discriminated against.

Out of 40 slots for appointment of people with disabilities, not one single person living with albinism was considered good enough to be recommended for appointment.

Added to that, people with physical disability and spinal cord disorders occupy the greater percentage of the leadership organs of people living with disabilities across the eight local government areas in the state.

 Bene Bright Benefugha, from Ekeremor Local Government Area, said when he raised the issue of exclusion of persons living with albinism from the appointment slots, he was suspended by the chairman.

Chairperson of the Bayelsa State Chapter of the Albinism Association of Nigeria, Mrs Joy Ogbogene, expressed shock at the scale of discrimination bordering on rejection by the state government.

Ogbogene told The PUNCH Panorama on Saturday, May 31 how letters for courtesy visits to engage top government officials on their challenges were not given any attention and requests for financial assistance were “kept in view”.

She explained the financial difficulties in managing albinism in order to avert skin cancer and how the state chapter could not organised a sensitisation workshop to educate others on the dangers they faced.

Her words: “Our challenges are we don’t get support, we don’t get help. We struggle to adapt to the situation in which we have found ourselves.

“The lack of melanin in the system makes us vulnerable to sunray. And, most persons cannot manage this situation because 90 per cent of persons living with albinism are struggling to make ends meet.

“So, adding another extra burden which is maintaining the skin and protecting it from sunray is an expensive task that most of them cannot meet up.

“So, in things like this, we appeal for assistance, which we are not getting. We don’t get attention, we don’t get assistance. And, in adapting to the situation, things that are needed are regular skin checks so that one can get quick intervention when there’s a case of cancer.

“It is better managed when it is detected at the early stage. So, when there is a periodic skin test, it can be easily managed. And, to protect one from getting skin cancer, you have to go out to make ends meet.

“The period in which we are supposed to abstain from the sun is the peak period of the day which is, as the case may be, from eight or nine o’clock five or six o’clock in the evening depending on how the weather is.

“If the sun is very hot, you are not expected to go out, but even if you have to go out, you must put on sun protective clothes, apply your sun protective cream, and sun cream lasts two or three hours thereabouts, and it’s not a hundred per cent guaranteed. And, these are the things most people cannot afford.

“So, we appeal to government, we appeal to public spirited persons to please, come to the aid of persons living with albinism in Bayelsa State just like other states are benefiting.”

Rejected appeals

Speaking further on the level of discrimination against persons living with albinism, Ogbogene pointed out: “We have written several letters. We have even written letters requesting for courtesy visits so we can dialogue, which have been turned down.

“We have written request to the deputy governor; request to the governor; request to the Commissioner for Health: we have written severally, even the Office of the First Lady, we have written to that office, too.

“None of the letters has gotten a response. For the one we can easily have access, which is the Ministry of Women Affairs, where the persons living with albinism fall under in the Department of Rehab, what they us is  most of their letters, most of the memos they raised, it was always written on them, KIV – keep in view. So, most of their letters bounced back.

 “For last year January or so, we intended to, we had the mind to organise a conference and sensitise our persons, because not everybody knows how vulnerable they are. So, we intended to organise the programme. We wrote to the governor, we wrote to the deputy governor, we even wrote to the ministry; we wrote to the governor through the ministry.

“So, the PS (permanent secretary) then tried her best. She told me the progression of the letter; the letter was returned for her to minute on it. She minuted positively and at the end of the day, the letter was tossed aside.

“So, these are the things we face daily. And, for people we feel can help outside the government, we have written to them, but no response, too.

“So, it’s like we are not being seen as part of Bayelsa. Yes, that is how it is being presented to us, and that’s how we feel.  We feel the discrimination is not just the common man that is discriminating us. The discrimination has gone beyond that.”