by Chris Agbo
Disability-Inclusion-Nigeria on Wednesday 9th September, 2020 put up another good show in the second episode of monthly webinar put together to mentor persons with disabilities towards enhancement of their political fortune. The project known as ElectAbility Project-PWDs’ mentorship forum for political inclusion in Nigeria is a brainchild of the convener of Disability Inclusion Nigeria, Mr. Jake Epelle, the founder of The Albino Foundation.
The September edition witnessed the presence of panelists such as His Excellency Amb. Ketil Karlsen, Ambassador, EU Delegation to Nigeria/ECOWAS, Prince Adedeji Soyebi, National Commissioner, INEC, Jake Epelle. The webinar was facilitated and coordinated by Wilson Manji, from ECES.
His Excellency Amb. Ketil Karlsen, Ambassador, EU Delegation to Nigeria/ECOWAS
Jake Epelle in his opening remark informed that the day discussion focused on the understanding the electoral body, digging to understand what INEC is doing for persons with disabilities, he acknowledges that IBEC is doing well and we will look at the international best practices they we should be copying in our quest in political participation.
Amb. Ketil Karlsen in his speech said that there are no international best practices out there to copy but there are some basic things Nigerians with disabilities must adopt in order to enhance their political participation. He pointed some things such as physical access, political culture, identifying political parties and champions that can break the deadlock and finally all these will based on data and knowledge, you don’t build something on nothing, you need to understand the needs and your interventions are to address the identified needs not to based your actions on speculation, that if they are put together in a comprehensive framework and carry out individually through designing of activities, policies and legislations, PWDs political capital will be greatly improved.
Prince Adedeji Soyebi
Prince Adedeji Soyebi said that INEC for close to 13 years have developed policy on disability inclusion, INEC during elections give particular attention to some group they referred a special group which consist of pregnant women, the aged and people with disabilities. He also said that INEC has been working closely with the organization of persons with disabilities(OPDs) and they have developed a framework to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities in the electoral process. This has led to development of some practices on the elections to mainstream people with disabilities. INEC has over 150, 000 polling booths and there are located in places where INEC don’t know have control over to ensure that they are all accessible to voters with disabilities but INEC has put measures in place to ensure that voters with disabilities are properly taken care of in the polling booths whenever they are there to vote. There is priority voting for persons with disabilities, introduction of braille ballot guide to ensure that the blind vote for a candidate of their choice without being guided by someone, the use of magnified glasses for the persons with albinism and posters inscription in the polling booths to guide the deaf voters. INEC is also administering form EC40E at the polling booths to gather disaggregated data of voters with disabilities to plan for future elections.
Wilson Manji, from ECES
He stated that the training manual for Adhoc staff has been rebuilt and the inclusion of persons with disabilities is very loud and INEC ensures that they are well oriented about priority voting of persons with disabilities, safety of voters with disabilities and other things that will make voting seamless for persons with disabilities especially in Edo and Ondo elections.
On reacting on a question about affirmative action for PWDs, he said that it is beyond the purview of INEC, he advised that the persons with disabilities should explore the option of legislation to achieve that.
Jake Epelle in his speech laid emphasis on leadership qualities as key to success in politics. He read out some leadership qualities that PWDs must acquire if they should succeed in politics. PWDs should be extraordinary political leaders. PWDs should not come into stage with a faulty character or integrity questions. Character is who you are in the dark, and integrity is saying something and doing exactly what you said. PWDs should be visionary so that your followers should see through your vision.
Go back to your place mobilize and building the capacity of your people but speaking and standing by them by so doing, you are building followers.
A leader must be service delivery, you must have service that you render to your people and you must have a succession plan, as you are getting into power, you should have your exit plan, look for who will succeed you and carry on your plans. He said that you must possess these things for you to be a successful political leader.
The webinar was attended by PWDs and some of their friends across the country and it was interacting and impactful.
