Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), has called on the three tiers of government to include people with disabilities in their various agencies and committees handling containment of COVID-19 pandemic spread.
Its Executive Director, Mr David Anyaele, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday, saying that this would give them sense of belonging.
Anyaele said: “What we are saying is that governments should redesign or review their information, education and communication strategies to accommodate people with disabilities.
“The state governments’ response strategies should include people with disabilities in agencies and committees on COVID-19.
“Also, Lagos State Government should establish or inaugurate the board of Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA) which has yet to be constituted.
“We are saying that Lagos State Government should implement the Lagos State Special People’s Law, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of disabilities.
“This is because people with disabilities are not accommodated in the Lagos State COVID-19 Committee, which is at variance with the Lagos State People’s Law.
“So, these and many are some of the things we discovered and analysed and recommended.’’
He said reports of a recent survey showed that there was urgent need
for inclusion of Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs) in Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials as well as palliatives response on COVID-19.
According to him the report is entitled: “Persons with Disabilities in Lagos State, A Rapid Assessment of the Effectiveness of Government COVID-19 Communication and Palliative Distribution Strategies’’.
Anyaele said that it was conducted by the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), with the support of Actionaid, UpRight for Nigeria and UKaid.
He said that the survey was designed and implemented to assess the effectiveness of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and palliative models in five states- Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Lagos, Kaduna and Kano.
According to him, in the report, there are major gaps in knowledge, saying the PWDs knowledge is not matched with the requisite attitudes for the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
“That will go a long way in ensuring that approaches and strategies of reaching these people are integrated in the process of dissemination of information.
“The PWDs, who responded in the report showed that the strategy adopted for distribution of palliatives was poor.
“But, they said the process should be continued, while asking for expansion of the COVID-19 palliatives support to include more PWDs in Lagos State.
“There was no targeted response to PWDs on COVID-19, be it in Information, Education and Communication (IEC) strategies of the government.
“Also, government did not target people with disabilities specifically in the distribution of the palliatives in the states,’’ Anyaele told NAN.(NAN)
