By Lawani Mikairu

Nigerians living with disabilities have called on Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the registered political parties in the country to put measures in place that will ease their participation in the coming 2023 general elections

David Anyaele, Executive Director, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD)  made the call on their behalf in a conference organised in Lagos , with support from VOICE organization.

Anyaele also called on organisations of persons with disabilities and their members to begin to organize with the purpose of engaging the political parties and their candidates on “disability inclusion, access and participation of persons with disabilities in governance.”

According to him,  persons with disabilities and their organization should articulate their charter of demand for proper engagement of  political parties on disability agendas. This is to ensure that issues of critical importance are mainstreamed in the political discuss.

The CCD Executive Director said : “The political parties should take appropriate measure that creates space for equal opportunity by ensuring that persons with disabilities are included in the campaign committees, campaign podiums are accessible to all with the provision of sign language interpreters, access to information, and disability inclusive manifesto etc”.

“This is critical because this time around persons with disabilities will not only like to be seen but they also want to be heard.”

On INEC, he said ,” INEC should ensure that they take appropriate steps to review all the previous off circle elections reports submitted by organisations of, and for persons with disabilities for the identification of forms and patterns as well as extent of complains on PWDs struggles on election days. This is with the view of finding solutions with scenario building”.

” Findings from previous elections reports shows that bulk of the problems faced by PWDs on election day are as result of what INEC failed to do, even when they claim that everything was provided for PWDs participation on the election day.”

He further said the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) should ensure that the Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement for Security Personnel on Election Duty aliens with the provisions of the new Electoral Act 2022 and the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018. This is to secure and guarantee access and priority for PWDs at the Polling Units.

“It is all imperative for the security agencies to mobilize more personnel, and train/build their capacity around issues that concerns persons with disabilities, to assure inclusivity in the electioneering security architecture,” he added.

The citizens also called on donor communities  to fund organisations of persons with disabilities on election related projects. “A situation whereby organisations of PWDs are excluded from benefiting from funding on elections in Nigeria is another form of advanced exclusion of PWDs and their organisations in international cooperation and development agenda”. ” PWDs and their organisations should not be only good for research studies on elections. They should also be supported to provide solutions to their electioneering challenges.”

“The media should continue to support the disability community as we approach the 2023 General Elections. The media is our eyes, ears, and legs. With the help of the media, issues of concern to PWDs would be mainstreamed in the 2023 General Elections conversations. Please mainstream issues of critical concern to PWDs in your election narratives to ensure an all-inclusive solution to Nigeria challenges come 2023 and beyond,” the citizens demanded.