by Chris Agbo,
OFF-CYCLE Elections: IFA engages Stakeholders to enhance the participation of PWDs Inclusive Friends Association IFA on Tuesday in Abuja organized National Stakeholder’s Roundtable Meeting on implementation of Disability Act and electoral accessibility for persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
The meeting which is part of activities of IFA Participate Today’s project supported by National Endowment for Democracy was organized to bring together leaders of Disability Community and other key Stakeholders to dialogue on how to facilitate the implementation of Disability Act in order to enhance access to electoral process by persons with disabilities especially at the off-cycle elections at Osun, Ekiti and Anambra States.
The Executive Director of Inclusive Friends Association (IFA), Grace Jerry in her opening speech said the meeting is to hear firsthand from leaders of persons with disabilities and jointly identify good practices in the areas of legal capacity reform, policy and institutional reform processes, and supported decision-making arrangements especially as Anambra, Ekiti and Osun off-cycle elections coming closer.
“The genuine participation of all citizens in political processes is a cornerstone of democracy. Political participation is clearly rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights which mentions the right of every person to equal participation in public affairs, the right to vote and be voted for, and right to access to public service” she stated.
Speaking further, she said that IFA have made appreciable progress in strengthening the capacity of persons with disabilities to advance their rights and participate in political process and improve government Inclusion of and responsiveness to PWDs in Nigeria.
She emphasized that the significant challenges to realization of the right to political participation for PWDs. Restrictions from legal obstacles when it come to right to vote, gaps in implementation of the existing laws and policies to ensure a more inclusive society.
“Being involved in electoral processes is contingent on access to information, commonly through radio, television and the internet as well as printed material. When PWDs require support to vote, the law should provide for assistance in voting by a person of their choice. Such assistance should be available to all persons with disabilities at their request” she added.
Watch Grace Jerry, ED, IFA speech at the event:
She made some recommendations such as INEC strengthening the training of its ad-hoc staff on PWD friendly aids and processes like the braille ballot guide, Form EC30H,and priority voting, INEC bringing polling units down from the verandas of public buildings to the floor or build ramps and handrails at polling units located at public buildings to make them more accessible for PWDs, INEC training of election officials, election administrators, security agents and leaders including information and education about the rights and needs of PWDs, NOA and INEC Voter Education and Publicity Department should collaborate with other media providers to increase the accessibility of their output, while media output can be made more accessible for PWDs through subtitles, sign language interpretation and audio descriptions and In the run-up to elections, communication material that provides instructions for voting and information on candidates should offer explanation in simple Language and be easily available in different formats.
She appreciated INEC and National Assembly for their continuous effort in providing more accessible electoral process for PWDs.
Hon. Aishatu Dukku, Chairman, House Committee on INEC and Civil Society in her remark while appreciating IFA for articulating a program like this, she said that the problem facing the issues of persons with disabilities is lack of aggregated data of persons and their challenges are not well articulated.
WHO estimated that about 15 percent of a country’s population are persons with disabilities, therefore IFA estimated about 25 million Nigerians with Disabilities. It is true that in January 2019, a law protecting PWDs from discrimination and stigmatization came into being and the implementation is yet to be fully materialized, about 19 states have also enacted different laws to protect PWDs from stigmatization and discrimination. It is sad that PWDs in Nigeria are still facing stigma and discrimination that have exclude them socially, economically and politically.
She suggested that people should be judged by their merit not by assumption and stereotypes, every Nigerian should be involved in making life meaningful for persons with Disabilities and it includes creating access to electoral process for PWDs and also prioritize PWDs.
She gave example on how she have been giving priority to PWDs in her constituency, during empowerment programmes, she always ensure that she provides for PWDs with aids like wheelchairs to aid their movement to schools and others.
She emphasized that Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018 should be fully implemented because it provides sanctions and fines and jail sentences for anyone that contravenes them. Ensuring that PWDs participate in the electoral process which have been hampered by inaccessible polling units, lack of braille ballot guide and many others and INEC should take seriously, we have been discussing with INEC on how to amend and improve the electoral legal framework on the needs of persons with disabilities, there is also need to involve PWDs in design and implementation of voter education, electoral procedures and policy making and training. Political parties should be dynamic to involve PWDs in all the processes of the parties.
She called on PWDs to reach out to the political parties especially the two major political parties APC and PDP as they are going through the process of amending their party constitution.
The Director, Voter Education & Publicity Department, INEC, Mr. Nick Dazang in his goodwilll message said that in time past the obsession of INEC is to deliver free fair and credible elections. Now, INEC is also taking concert steps to address the issue of marginalized groups such as mainstreaming gender and marginalized groups and based on these, INEC have developed a policy on gender and the policy has been reviewed and due for implementation once more, INEC have also developed a framework known as Youth Engagement Strategy, and also a framework of engaging persons with disabilities. INEC will expose their staff to a full packed of Disability Inclusion guidelines with the assistant of The Albino Foundation and other development partners.He affirmed that INEC will continue until they mainstream all marginalized group because countries that have experienced growth exponentially are countries who have invested alot on PWDs because we will get more people contribute into the economy of the country. China is an example of such country.
He also said that due to the importance INEC attached on mainstreaming marginalized groups, a new department was created known as Gender and Inclusivity Department, which shows that INEC is not just talking about they are working the talk.
The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) National President, Ekaete Judith Umoh during her goodwill message said that the engagement of INEC by PWDs started since 1999 and there was no frameworks to engage with, Disability Advocates were just making presentation based on what they believe that they were the needs of PWDs. Advocates have done a lot, now there are tools for advocacy and PWDs are bragging with their numerical strength ofcourse PWDs constitute 15 % of the country’ s population, now we have over 30million PWDs and they now is fast increasing. 2023 is around the corner, politicians will also come to us and we should be prepared to engage.She stated that the laws and policies on disability have provided a sense of direction for persons with disabilities to engage on ho they can be included. She suggested that we can engage just the way the women are engaging for affirmative action like Uganda, an opportunity will be give to PWDs to contest among themselves elect their own representative.
She urged PWDs to be more visible as we are approaching the 2023 general elections so that PWDs would not only be voting for other but present themselves to be voted for.
The meeting also featured a presentation on Implementing the Disability law nationwide in relation to election accessibility and political participation for PWDs with focus on Anambra, Ekiti and Osun Off-cycle Elections by Barr. Daniel Onwe, President, Association of Lawyers with Disabilities in Nigeria (ALDIN). It was followed by panel discussants moderated by Ibrahim Faruk- Program Manager, YIAGA Africa. The discussants were Ekaete Judith Umoh, National President, JONAPWD, Dr. Duro Onota, Lead Consultant, Durosef Consultancy, Ugochukwu Okeke, Chairman, JONAPWD Anambra State and a representative from INEC.
Watch JONAPWD President Speech at the event
After the discussions, the meeting came up with a communique which said that there would be increased Advocacy among state and non-state actors in different sectors, building strong collaboration between OPDs, CSOs and National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, PWDs should engage should that affect one of them as issue that affect all, continuous engagement with INEC and other Election key Stakeholders, increase training of security agencies on how to interact with PWDs, INEC to continue to interact and interface with PWDs in order to sustain the success gained at the previous Elections, PWDs not only to vote but to contest for political offices, PWDs to engage Political Parties to review their constitution to accommodate PWDs, communal approach should be adopted in resolving arose in the disability space, to simplify Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 and popularize it with the Disability Community to aid better engagement and encourage data collection of PWDs to enhance better planning, create access and serve as Advocacy tool.The meeting was attended by INEC representatives, leaders of Disability Community from FCT, Anambra, Ekiti and Osun, Disability rights Advocates and members of the press.
TQM learnt IFA under this Participate Today’s project will engage PWDs in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun to enhance their engagement with INEC to ensure the particpation of PWDs in these states in the off-cycle elections.
Below are some pictures of the meeting:
