By Loveth Asogwa Obiora,
Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) in collaboration with Network for the Advancement of Persons with Visible Disabilities (NIPVID) on Tuesday 23rd March 2021 in Abuja made a public presentation of Data for Inclusion report. It is a project supported by Voice Nigeria to collect disaggregated data of Persons with disabilities in order to reduce the barriers that they face during elections.
Grace Jerry the Executive director of Inclusive Friends Association IFA said that on behalf of the Network for the Advancement for the Persons with Visible Disabilities (NAPVID), Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) and the Ondo State Disability Welfare Agency (ODWA), she wishes to recognize and welcome princess Miriam Onuoha house of representative committee on disability, Dr Ladipo Adekunle Ogunmola INEC national commissioner, Ijeoma Okwor program coordinator, voice in Nigeria, James Lalu Executive Secretary, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, Ekaete Umoh, President joint National association of persons with disabilities JONAPWD, Saray Jah, Country Director, International Foundation for International Systems (IFES), Wilson Manji, Coordination Advisor/Electoral administration expert Nigeria INEC, disability rights leaders and participant. She appreciated the local government, supervisors, leadership of the JONAPWD that participated in the process.
She said that data has continued to take center stage in different parts of human endeavor including election and governance and that data drives better decision making and the absence of it makes waste inevitable, and because of this, IFA deepened engagements with INEC Nigeria to strengthen its use of data to inform the provisions towards disability inclusion in all phases of election.
She stated that the goal of the data inclusion project is to increase the participation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria’s political and electoral processes by collecting disaggregated data of PWDs and influencing the reduction of physical barriers and stigma that make it difficult to participate in elections. The project was set out to collect data of PWDs in 13 states and support INEC to use the data in deploy election materials in these states. She also mentioned that IFA and its partners NAPVID, ODWA worked with PWD leaders and collected data of registered voters with disabilities in the following states Adamawa AkwaIbom Anambra Ebonyi Edo Ekiti Gombe Kano Kwara Ondo Osun Plateau Sokoto, that IFA and its partners deployed a combination of manual and electronic methodology to collect the disaggregated data of PWDs across the 13 states and this way all persons registering henceforth have their data captured.
She urged INEC to ensure that all voters with disabilities in Nigeria Update their disability status, capture their status and voters registration should also be brought closer to PWDs, National Orientation Agency (NOA) should design PWDs specific civic and voter education message, National Population Commission(NPC) should consult widely with OPDs to ensure that tools/instrument for the data collection, National Assembly should expedite action for the transmission of the amended electoral bill for assent by the President. OPDs and CSOs should design voter education initiatives that appeal to different forms of disabilities and also work collaboratively with local grass-root initiative, Nigerian media should create enough civic awareness for Nigeria and publish disability inclusive civic education message to reach citizens with disabilities.
Finally, she appreciated Voice Nigeria for the technical and financial support in the project.
Dr Adekunle Ogunmola, National Commissioner and Chair, Outreach in partnership committee in his goodwill message welcomed participants and stated that accountability of the electoral process is making the democratic exercise inclusive for easy participation of all eligible voters, though data limitation reflects the low priority that disability has historically received but the commission is working to ensure proper data accuracy especially for persons with disability.
Hon. Afolabi Olalekan representing the Chairman, House Committee on Disability in his goodwill message, he mentioned that the national assembly is working towards making a sustainable and accessible environment for PWDs in electoral processes.
Ekaette Umoh, National President JONAPWD in her goodwill messages said that data is good because it helps to include PWDs in election and helps to navigate the other PWDs and find out their blind spot.
Wilson Manji representing European Centre for electoral support, also congratulated IFA and partners on the public report for data inclusion and stated that it will go a long way to mainstream PWDs in electoral processes.
Mr. Ben Aga, Senior program Manager, National Democratic Institute (NDI) summarized the data for inclusion report.
Mrs. Benny Goodnews representing INEC launched the data for inclusion and it was given to all participant finally, IFA executive director Grace Jerry appreciated all participant for coming.
Some pictures of the event
