In May 2022, the Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) trained members of the Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) in Osun State through her Participate Today project activity, tagged “PWD Civic and Political Organizing Lab (CPOL)” to strengthen their capacity in advocacy to advance their rights and participation in social and political processes.
A session in the three (3) days of intensive training prepared Osun PWDs with composite tactics and skills to engage systems for the domestication of the State disability law and the establishment of its commission.
Four (4) weeks after the training, the Osun State Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) and other OPDs took advocacy to the State Ministry of Justice to follow up on the draft of the State Disability Law.
In the meeting, the Solicitor General & Acting Permanent Secretary of the Osun State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Morufat Adekemi Bello, intimate the consortium on the stake as the bill has been approved for passage to the State Assembly for readings and debates. She admitted that the Ministry has been working tirelessly to ensure the bill is in tandem with international best practices.
“….the bill experienced delay because we want to do all the needful to ensure that PWDs are in good positions and not exempted in the state. With this, we want to provide equal access, in health, public places, transportation, and all relevant areas…”
“It is better to develop the bill in a good way to make it achieve the set aims and objectives.”
“if the lawmakers need any assistance in any regard, we will be willing to provide it instantly,” Bello said.
The immediate past chairman of Osun JONAPWD, Mr. Kehinde Onitiju emphasized the importance of the Disability Law as to serve as a blueprint for other states to emulate, adding that PWDs should not be left behind in the scheme of affairs in the State.
