The European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) has called for the appointment of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in government positions across the country.
Development Diaries reports that the majority of PWDs, according to the EU programme, were not elected in the 2023 general election in the country.
Members of the EU-SDGN include DAI Global, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Yiaga Africa, Kukah Centre, International Press Centre (IPC), Institute for Media and Society (IMS), Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), ElectHER, and TAF Africa.
Others include SOS Children’s Villages, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), and Justice, Development and Peace Makers’ Centre (JDPMC).
Figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) indicate that Nigeria is home to an estimated 32 million people with disabilities.
Discrimination against PWDs in the country includes limited access to employment and use of public spaces, stigmatisation, unsolicited and discriminatory sympathy, and limited access to quality education.
‘We want the whole nation, especially the current administration, to hear their voice; to hear that they are qualified for any and every appointive office’, the Chief Executive Officer of TAF Africa, Jake Epellesaid, said.
‘President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should take the bull by the horns and appoint persons with disabilities as ministers.
‘Let him take pride in being the first president to do that. Elected governors across the sub-national [level] should also appoint persons with disabilities as commissioners.
‘We are grateful that in the past, we have been appointed special advisors and some other heads of establishments, especially establishments for persons with disabilities, but we need to go a notch higher. Who says we cannot be ministers’?
The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act in Nigeria has neither significantly improved the protection of PWDs nor reduced the social, political, and economic exclusion they suffer.
Photo source: NDDB
