National Association of Persons With Physical Disability ( NAPWPD) has demanded that five percent share of Federal Government five billion naira allocation to each state to cushion the effects of fuel Subsidy Removal be given to Persons With Disabilities.
In a press release sent to TQM signed by Rilwan Abdullahi Mohammed, National President, NAPWPD, the group said that “Following the recent approval of the sum of N5 billion palliative for each
state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to address the impact of the fuel subsidy removal on the masses, the Association is calling on government at all levels to ensure that 5% share of the palliative are reserved for its members.
“The 5% entitlement is predicated on and in
tandem with the provisions of the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018″.
“Likewise, Section 25 of the Disability Law
provides that in situation of risk or humanitarian emergencies, persons with disabilities should be accorded preference and protection. Needless to point that we are in such a time”.
They have been extremely disturbed and sorely worried over the suffering of their members because of the subsidy removal policy of the federal government.
“The impact of the policy has and continue to have debilitating impact on people with disabilities,
whose large demography are poor and vulnerable, a situation that is not of their own making but societally caused” he added.
He revealed that the long-lasting inability of people with disabilities to afford decent food, healthcare and basic necessities of life have been compounded and made worse with the recent situation in the country.
“Of great concern is the rapid multiplier effect of the policy on the cost of goods and services, thereby making life unbearable for the poor including people with disabilities”.
They laid emphasis that their members are now finding it difficult to access public transport as the transport system is largely inaccessible and affordable to members of the disability community.
“While we recognize that the government has to do the needful, however crushing and painful the effect may be, in order that the country might
attain future prosperity, we are not happy that consultations towards mitigating the crunch did not carry people with disabilities along neither did the government provide clear template or clarity on how marginalised groups like persons with disabilities will be accommodated in the economic palliatives recently announced by the federal and state governments”.
“It is common knowledge that people with disabilities are usually isolated and excluded from the scheme of things; intervention programmes that reaches other members of the society because they stand on equal pedestal to claim their rights is denied and elusive to people with disabilities”
They stated that it is on the basis of these challenges that the disability law provides for quota, reservations and sharing formulas to people with disabilities who would ordinarily be missing in action should they be lumped up with other members of the society in the grab process of relief programmes.
“It is in the spirit and the wisdom of the law therefore that we call for 5% allocation of the 5 billion Naira approved for the 36 states and the FCT to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal”.
They also implored the state government that subsequent interventions involving the transport system should take cognizance of the peculiarity of people with disabilities by providing accessible buses with adjustable ramps and handrails for wheelchair users, signage and electronic display for directions with audio announcements for the benefit of the deaf and the blind, this again is provided in the disability law.
“Suffice to say that our demands are not just based on charity request but are congruent with legal stipulations, and at the same time also, an appeal to the goodwill of government” they stated.
