The Owner and Managing Director of O’Neal Centre, located at Plot 360 Obafemi Awolowo Way in Jabi Abuja, Mr. Nelson Okpara on Friday 24th June, 2022 in his office discriminated against a group of persons with disabilities who were in his office for an advocacy visit.
The Albino Foundation(TAF) through a project supported by European Union is embarking on advocacy visits to different companies to educate their owners of what is expected of them in the Disability Act with the view of getting them to start implementing the Act.
TAF has been embarking on this with a coalition of Organizations of Persons With Disabilities (OPDs) with special consideration of different clusters of disability.
On Friday, TAF after due arrangement with the owner of O’Neal Centre paid an advocacy visit to his company.
Unfortunately, Mr. Nelson who kept the group waiting for over 3 hours refused to see them because some members of the group uses wheelchair.
It was an affront on these wheelchair users because after keeping them for 3 hours, he came back looked at them where they were waiting for him outside without saying anything, went up to his office upstairs and the sent for Afam Kasim and call for the group to come upstairs to his office.
He was informed that two members of the group, Mr. Chris Agbo and Mr. Donald Unanka are wheelchair users and they cannot climb the stairs.
In his response, he told Afam that he didn’t plan that wheelchair users should be part of the meeting, and then he insisted that if the group cannot come upstairs to his office because of wheelchair users, they should leave because he cannot come down to meet with the group. He is aware that there is no working lift at his Centre which shows that his action was deliberate.
Efforts were made for him to see reasons and rearrange to meet with group on the ground floor where they were already seated but he refused.
Then, the group left without accomplishing the aim of their visit. Mr Nelson was inconsiderate of their time, no apologies for keeping them for a long time, no respect and no regard to their emotions/feelings.
Mr Nelson violated Section 1 of Discrimination against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Act which stipulated that “A Person with Disability shall not be discriminated against on the ground of his disability by any person or institution in any manner and circumstances.
Assume the five years transitory period have elapsed, Mr Nelson should have been sued for not making his centre assessible for persons with disabilities.
O’neal Centre is an edifice in Jabi, Abuja housing many businesses, restaurant, decoration, entertainment and many others. It is a public building which under the Disability Act has five years transitory period to ensure modifications for it to have all accessible facilities.
Mr Nelson should know that the visit was for his own good so that he cannot run foul of the law after the five years transitory period.
Two wheelchair users called on TAF to do something to address the humiliations that they suffered from the way Mr. Nelson treated them to stop future concurrences of this kind of discriminatory practices. They also called on agency like National Commission of Persons with disabilities (NCPWD) to wade in and caution Mr Nelson to serve as a deterrent to others because Persons with disabilities should be treated with dignity.
