….1% of annual budget ‘ll boost productivity of PWDs- Dr Okogwu

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – AS the need for equality and justice takes the front burner in socio-economic development, a Civil Society Organization, CSO, Centre for Ability, Rehabilitation and Empowerment, CARE, and Persons With Disabilities, PWDs, weekend, demanded for implementation of the Disability Act after five years.

The call which was contained in an opening address and read by the Founder, CARE, Dr Chike Okogwu, at a 2-Day National Co-creation Stakeholders Conference with the theme ‘The National Disability Act Post-Moratorium: Advancing Inclusion and Accessibility for those Vulnerable and outside the Margins’ held in Abuja, and supported by OXFAM and VOICE.

Okogwu pointed out that the CARE’s journey began with a dream of a society where PWDs are valued and included. However, they encountered challenges, but persevered, which they remained resolute in advocating for policy changes, which they rallied support from dedicated partners like OXFAM and VOICE.

He also called for one per cent of the National budget for PWDs in the country to boost productivity of PWDs who constitute 15 per cent of the population.

He said: “Today, we celebrate the National Disability Act, a testament to our collective efforts. We acknowledge the progress made, but we also recognize the work ahead. Our renewed
hope agenda envisions a future where: PWDs have equal access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities

“Inclusive infrastructure and transportation are the norm; Stigma and discrimination are a thing of the past; PWDs are leaders and change-makers in their communities.

“We are committed to co-creating this future with you. Together, we will: Empower PWDs with skills and resources; Challenge harmful stereotypes and biases; Advance accessible and inclusive development; Celebrate the diversity and contributions of PWDs.

“Let us continue to walk this journey together, with hope, determination, and a shared
vision for a brighter future.

“The change we want in the Disability Act is the word integration but what we want is inclusion. They look like they are the same thing but they are two different things.

“Integration is about providing access, while inclusion is about changing your culture not only provides access but you do the needful to remove barriers. When you look at integration the mind’s construction is not removing the barriers but when it is inclusion the culture now mandates you to remove the barriers.

“The other thing is about funding; let us think outside the box on how we can generate the funds for supporting the wall and supporting the Persons With Disabilities. Donor agencies like Oxfam, VOICE in Nigeria, and others are doing a great job but we cannot rely on donor funds alone.

“How about working on the emotional intelligence of Nigerians? Nigerians are good people, if we come up with a suggestion, optional, if you are buying a flight ticket and you want to donate to people with disabilities, optional, N100 added to your flight ticket per day times the number of people buying flight tickets per day.

“Assuming it was 100,000 people that donate N100 every day that gives you N10 million per day revenue, and if you raise N10 million per day times 360 days in a year you have N3.6 billion in a year to provide facilities for PWDs, and it hurts nobody.

“Remember that I said disability can happen to anybody. So the man donating N100 willingly may one day end up benefiting from that N100. But the truth of the matter is there has to be accountability for that process. So let us think outside the box as we create more revenue with PWDs.”

Meanwhile, the Project Coordinator VOICE Nigeria, Akom Nya, on the sidelines of the Conference said, “The Disability Act has been in place for a while now and we have had some very good initiative, people are becoming more aware of issues around disability and all of that, people are becoming more aware about need for inclusion.

“However, implementation is still a problem nationally. So we are looking out for how more persons with disability can be included in the decision making process, economic situation of Nigeria where they are empowered to sustain themselves.

“They are people that need to be integrated into society and included what we are doing including politics, economic empowerment, political positions, party leadership, it is very important that everyone is brought to the table because once we do not include everyone, we are depleting the workforce of the nation, and of course, we don’t want anybody to be left behind.”

“What VOICE Nigeria want is everybody to be heard, the voice of every marginalized community to be heard; women and girls, persons with disability, older persons. So we just want a society everybody can live without inequalities, these hindrances and barriers. So that is just our interest.”

Also, the Programme Manager, Cognito, Kaseina Dashe, said, “It is a build up to those initial conversations to say the bill that the Disability Act was passed into law gave a five year moratorium grace period for all public buildings to become accessible and for certain conditions to be put in place to enhance the access and inclusion of persons with disability, and that period elapsed In January this year.

“So we are saying now that it has elapsed, what next, how do we begin to hold government, institutions?

“Every public building in this country is supposed to have during that period modified its physical structure to allow persons with disabilities to access those buildings.

“These are the issues that we want to bring forward and to say that it is high time for the Disability Act to be taken seriously, for it to be implemented and for the sanctions that are contained in the Act to actually begin to take effect.”