General Manager, Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA), Dare Dairo, has appealed to people with disabilities to unite themselves, discover, and collaborate with organisations that will support their cause further.
Dairo made this appeal yesterday during a policy dialogue for adoption of the Local Government disability framework organised by Hope Inspired Foundation for Women and Youth with Disabilities (HIFWYD), held at Alausa, Ikeja.
According to him, persons with disabilities should know what they want and demand empowerment that would benefit them.
He said: “There are basics that we need to do that needs improvement and as things get better, we need to learn how to articulate our needs because that is always been the process of government all over the world because there is always the push and pull between government and the governed.
“We have seen it happen recently with labour and we have seen the present level of gender inclusion has been a lot of achievement.”
Executive Director, Hope Inspire Foundation for Women and Youths with Disabilities, Janet Adekunle explained that while 20 states have developed and enacted laws to assist individuals with disabilities, such laws have not been implemented at the local government level.
“At the national level, we do have a policy framework with persons with disabilities and it has been adopted in 20 states as well and Lagos State is one of the leaders of any issue related to people with disabilities.
“The challenge is that oftentimes these policies are not cascaded down to the local government level and the majority of the women and youths with disabilities are more in touch with their local government level than at the state or federal level.
“It is important that we take actions and stakeholders should take up the baton and run with it which will enable us to experience more progress in the coming years.”
