Save the Children International (SCI) has called on the government at all levels in Nigeria to create a conducive and inclusive environment for people with disabilities.

Speaking against the backdrop of the 2022 Global Disability Summit, the SCI Country Director for Nigeria, Mercy Gichuhi, raised concerns over the plight of children with disabilities in the country.

According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), about 95 percent of children with disabilities in developing countries are out of school, with 90 percent of them never gaining access to basic education in their lifetime.

Figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) also show that Nigeria is home to an estimated 32 million people with disabilities, most of whom are children.

‘They face different types of discrimination and have limited access to basic social services like health and education facilities’, Gichuhi said in a statement.

‘The current status quo reveals that an estimated 95.5 percent of children with disabilities in Nigeria are out of school.

‘They have low knowledge of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues, including HIV/AIDS due to inaccessible SRH/HIV communication information tools’.

She added that for community development to be complete, the rights and special needs of people living with disabilities must also be addressed.

Gichuhi called on all stakeholders to design programmes on health, education and livelihoods that will be more inclusive in order to mitigate the discrimination against people with disabilities, especially children.

‘I would like to call upon development actors, donors, the private sector, states, and governments to deliberately take into account disability inclusion and rights in humanitarian and development planning, financing, and implementation’, she said.

Photo source: DFID