YPAC PROJECT: YAF PROFFERS MEASURES TO ADDRESS CORRUPTION IN DISABILITY ISSUES

On 20^th June, 2019, Youth Alive Foundation (TAF) organized a consultative forum with persons with disabilities in Abuja on Disability and Corruption with theme “Corruption, Accountability and Disability: Understanding the connections”. The event is major activity under the disability intervention of YPAC project which strengthening Youth Participation Against Corruption funded by DFID.

The event brought together close to 80 participants comprising of young people and experts of people with disabilities from different organizations of people with disabilities such as Centre for Citizen with disabilities (CCD), Persons with Disabilities Action Network (PEDANET), Cedar Seeds Foundation, Inclusive Friends Association, Nigeria Association of the Blind, The Albino Foundation and some other prominent members of the disability community.

Dr Udy Okon, the Executive Director of Youth Alive Foundation in her interview with the press said that the idea behind this consultative meeting with the leaders of disability community is to gain firsthand knowledge about the challenges faced by PWDs and how corruption has contributed to the challenges. It is also to involve people with disabilities in anti-corruption campaign because they are no doubt one of the ultimate beneficiaries of corrupt free society. Those in tertiary institutions, it will be good to know how corruption has affected them in school especially when it comes to inclusive education that we all are propagating. She advised the government to involve every segment of population in their budgeting if they wish to have meaningful development. Gender and persons with disabilities inclusion is every important in everything that we are doing. She expressed worries why people with disabilities would not be consulted when budgets are being formulated in some MDAs that has budgetary allocations for people with disabilities.

It is no longer news how corruption has drained our resources and PWDs are more vulnerable than others when it comes to the impact of corruption. All the barriers faced by the PWDs are all product of corruption, for instance lack of access to medical care, inaccessibility of public buildings, non-inclusive education and discrimination/stigmatization in area of employment and other important issues of life.

These issues were also echoed during press interviews with Kie Obamalu, Professor Jibrin Isa, and Dr. Adebukola Adebayo where they all emphasized on these issues and the immediate solution proffered was to implement the disability rights Act which they unanimously believe that it will ameliorate to a great extent the challenges faced by people with disabilities in different sectors of their life.

The consultative forum was designed to provide measures that will intervene to address these issues.

The forum featured a paper presentation on Dissecting the National Disability Right Law for Effective CSOs Engagement and Addressing Corruption in Nigeria which was facilitated by Dr. Adebukola Adebayo, a reasoned disability rights advocate and there were two panel discussion, first was on Corruption in the Education Sector and its impact on Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria, it was anchored by Mmanti Umoh, a woman with disability and a management consultant and the second was on “Corruption, Accountability and the Disability Community in Nigeria” it was anchored by Rasak Adekoya, a visually impaired person and a development expert.

After the deliberations, the forum agreed on some points to form the communique which is also measures to address the issues raised from the meeting;

On the Paper Presentation: Dissecting the National Disability Right Law for Effective CSOs Engagement and Addressing Corruption in Nigeria which explored the major contents of the Disability Law some of which included awareness raising on disability issues, access to infrastructure and prohibition of all forms of Abuse and the sanctions for violators of the disability law. After presentation which was interactive with Questions and answers sessions, some issues were exposed and highlighted, some observations and recommendations; They include:

1. The Disability Law sets the ethics and standards on how the affairs of PWDs will be addressed.
2. Failure to implement the disability law is corruption and a doorway to discrimination of PWDs.
3. PWDs must begin to ask duty bearers questions regarding all programs and activities involving the implementation of the Disability law.
4. Youth Alive Foundation (YAF) and other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) should work towards addressing the capacity gaps existing among PWDs in issues relating to Disability. When PWDs become armed with the right knowledge and information, they will be better positioned to become active citizens in the fight against corruption.
5. Procurement of Assistive aids for PWDs is a major space where corruption occurs.

On Youth Panel: Corruption in the Education Sector and its impact on Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria which featured 5 discussants who were all youths. They shared their stories which captured challenges faced by PWDs in the Education, health, socio-economic, sports and Transportation sectors.The majorobservations/Recommendations from this session include:

1. The Education sector is plagued with so many corrupt issues. For example, Institutional issues and poor implementation of some policies which affect PWDs in Tertiary institutions as well as diversion of funds and budgets allocated for PWDs.
2. Access to buildings and school facilities still presents a challenge for PWDs in tertiary institutions.
3. There is little publicity in the mainstream media about disability inclusion.
4. In the sports sector, PWDs are unable to access funding and resources.
5. The capacity of PWDs needs to be strengthened in using the Freedom of Information (FOI) law as a tool in advocating for Open budgets in the Education sector as well as probing if such budgets are disability inclusive.
6. Sports should be considered as a tool for inclusion of PWDs in all formal institutions.
7. PWDs must have the right representation in Government to advocate for the issues for PWDs.
8. The charity model of disability contributes to the discrimination faced by PWDs; therefore, the social and rights-based model must be advocated for because it deals with structural issues faced by PWDs.
9. More publicity and awareness on Disability rights is required.
10. Anti-corruption and disability issues should be mainstreamed into primary and secondary schools.
11. Provision of assistive tools and aids in Tertiary institutions must be prioritized.
12. Advocating to Universities to admit PWDs to courses they apply for rather than choosing special education.
13. Sanctions for discriminators of PWDs should be enforced across all facets of society.

On the Expert Panel: Corruption, Accountability and the Disability Community in Nigeria, it x-rayed how corruption affects PWDs across all spheres of the Nigerian society. It was composed of 5 experts who engaged in critical discussions around the aim of the session. Recommendations from this session include:

1. The Health sector is unresponsive to the needs of PWDs. An example is the lack of interpreters and aids in health facilities. Interventions around this will alleviate the issues faced by PWDs.
2. PWDs face major discrimination in the electoral system. For example, the priority voting by INEC still exposes some major challenges for PWDs. Also, the INEC data does not fully capture disability credentials. Therefore, PWDs must understand the intricacies about the electoral process and be armed with the right information in advocating for disability friendly policies. To this end, PWDs call for the full implementation of the INEC framework of action and participation.
3. Disability Persons Organizations (DPOs) must be transparent and accountable to its members in terms of financial and programmatic processes. This will facilitate growth and empowerment of PWDs.
4. PWDs must collaborate with mainstream anti-corruption advocates in combating corruption.
5. PWDs must be informed about constitutional processes and deliberately involve lawyers in handling their business issues so that they are effectively protected.
6. The impact of 2% of funding for Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) allocated for special needs must be deliberately disbursed for the use of PWDs.
7. There is a need for relevant data for PWDs which will provide the basis for appropriate planning and inclusion.
8. There is need to strengthen the capacities of PWDs on governance issues for effective representation and advocacy.
9. Development of Disability sensitive tools must be prioritized.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE PICTURES FROM THE EVENT