By Bulus Bala reporter Qualitative Magazine Jos
Disability Right Advocacy Centre (DRAC) on February 3-4, 2020 in Jos, Plateau State organized a two-day training for Plateau State Legislators on Disability Rights and Legal Frameworks.
The workshop supported by Disability Rights Fund was organized to improve participants knowledge on disability rights and relevant frameworks in order to strengthen their capacity to make disability friendly laws.
The Executive Director, DRAC Dr. Irene Patrick-Ogbogu in her welcome address said that DRAC has been working in Plateau State since 2018 on Access to Justice for Women and Girls with Disabilities and findings from assessments carried out in the state showed a need to review the Law establishing the Disability Rights Commission while strengthening legal frameworks in the state.
She explained the need to make the laws compliant with global standards and instruments such as the UNCRPD to which Nigeria is a signatory, in order to truly protect the rights of persons with disabilities and attract international cooperation for the state as development partners are reluctant to put their resources where there is no acceptable global standard in terms of disability inclusive development.
Speaking Further, she said that recent findings revealed that the state executive council allocated 1% of state fund towards disability issues and set up a committee that would manage the allocated fund, unfortunately no person with disability was named in that committee. This action raised a red flag in the disability community and among development partners which prompted DRAC to schedule this training for legislators who are responsible for passing bills into law to serve a twin purpose of enlightening them on disability rights and urging them to put in place disability friendly legislation that would be in line with the UNCRPD and the recently enacted Disability Act.
She said a situation where persons with disabilities are excluded from decision-making on matters affecting them in the state was unconscionable and unacceptable.
She enumerated some shortfalls of the Plateau State Disability Law to include: non-criminalization of disability-related discrimination, lack of sanctions for violations of disability rights, etc. she emphasized that the appropriate quota for disability inclusion in programs and budgets should be between 5-15% but definitely not less than 5%.
She also listed names of other states in Nigeria that have disability laws such as Lagos State, Ekiti State, Bauchi State, Jigawa State, Anambra State, etc and out of these states, it is only Plateau state that has a person with disability as the state the chairman of its disability commission.
The training which was facilitated by Dr. Irene Patrick-Ogbogu herself enlightened the participants on the acceptable definition of disability, facts and figures on disability in Nigeria, the type of barriers faced by persons with disabilities, different models or approaches to responding to disability issues, the United National Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018.
The facilitator used several facilitation techniques to drive home her points such as case studies, Q&A, use of pictographs, Pre/post-training Questionnaires, interactive sessions, and personal stories / experiences of the facilitator.
The Qualitative Magazine (QM) learnt that these techniques made every topic clear to the participants.
During press interactions between QM and Hon. Gobyil Daniel Naanlong, Majority Leader, Plateau State House of Assembly while expressing his views on the disability law in Plateau State, said that even though Plateau State has a law for disability matters, he has discovered that there are many challenges with the law and therefore the need to make amends, as the law does not have proper sanctions prohibiting people from discriminating against persons with disabilities particularly in public services such as in the area of opportunity for employment, education and even architectural design of public buildings.
He opined that a comprehensive law would ensure that people respect, accommodate and integrate PWDs properly in our society. Speaking further, he said the House of Assembly would fast-track the legislative processes for the review and amendment of the bill and monitor its implementation by the Executive.
When he was asked about employment of PWDs in Plateau State. He said that 2020 budget was just passed and MDAs made proposal for employment. The issue would be addressed in all the Committees, therefore at the committee level, the legislators will engage the executive on employment of PWDs, they would even propose up to 10% opportunities instead of 5% proposed by the Disability Act at National level.
Mr. Joseph Jacob Dakop former senior special assistant to the governor on disability matters speaking to The Qualitative Magazine said that the programme is timely and it brought on board all the policy makers and legislators. Therefore, this action will surely lead to speedily amendment of the law putting in consideration some relevant provisions.
The workshop came up with some recommendations:
- Legislators were charged to become disability inclusion champions for inclusion by passing laws that will be all – inclusive and repealing hostile laws.
- Legislators and philanthropists in the society have been called to set aside a certain percentage of their scholarship schemes for PWDS to support their education
- Plateau State government has called upon, to give more than 5% minimum employment change to PWDs in the State.
- Lawyers should learn more on Disability Rights to be able to help more in court cases.
Participants at the training include: Members of Plateau state House of Assembly led by the Majority leader Hon. Gapyil Daniel Naanlong and the Chairman Committee on women affairs Hon. Esther Simi Dusu, Representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Representatives of Plateau State Disability Rights Commission and Heads of Clusters of Disability Associations in the State.  Â
SOME PICTURES OF THE WORKSHOP
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