By Leonard Okachie

Umuahia, March 29, 2021(NAN) The Abia House of Assembly, has assured that it was working towards passing the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Bill shortly after Easter break.
Speaker Chinedum Orji gave the assurance when the management of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), paid him a courtesy visit in Umuahia on Monday.
He said that the 7th Assembly was committed to promoting peoples-oriented bills as witnessed in the recent bills passed, particularly the Abia State Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill.

Earlier, Executive Director of CCD, Mr David Anyaele said the visit was to appreciate the speaker for the progressive bills passed since inception of 7th assembly.

“We are pleased to note the recent Diaspora Bill, and in particular the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill, aimed at protecting the weak and vulnerable group from all forms of harmful practices.

“We are excited to note that Abia State Disability Bill has passed second reading, awaiting final reading,” he said.

Anyaele said that the disability bill was critical to the lives and survival of more than 600,000 Abia residents with disabilities.
He said that the bill provided for the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of disability and a commission for persons with disabilities amongst others.

He said it would also put the state in the map of disability friendly states in Nigeria and urged the speaker to ensure that the bill was passed without further delay.

The CCD director called on the house to take appropriate measures to ensure that lawmaking, oversight and representation functions were accessible to persons with disabilities.

“This can be achieved through audit of legislative processes to ensure access, participation and mainstreaming of disability issues in the assembly,” he said.

He equally urged the House to employ a Sign Language Interpreter to enhance communication for the deaf community in the state.

He assured that his organisation, in collaboration with its partners, would support the House in its legislative activities to ensure no one was left behind by reason of disability.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 10 states, including Anambra, Bauchi, Ekiti, Jigawa, Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Kwara, Niger and Plateau have passed the disability bill.(NAN)

by Chris Agbo,

Haly Hope Foundation on Saturday in Abuja organized a sensitization and capacity building programme titled: The right of the girl child with disability in a COVID-19 World.

The project which is the initiative of Haly Hope Foundation geared towards sensitizing and training young girls in Jabi school for the Blind, Abuja on diverse topics in commemoration of International Women’s Day (IWD), 2021 with the theme this year as “Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID 19 world”.

The Executive Director, Haly Hope Foundation, Apolmida Haruna Tsammani (Ms.), while speaking to TQM said that the choice of the School for the blind Jabi, Abuja is informed by their mandate as a foundation that caters for persons with disabilities especially women and children with disabilities and girls with disabilities; the young girls with disabilities are most times being neglected especially in issues of Gender Based Violence(GBV) and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR). The group is of the opinion that starting when they are young will help in catching them young on these sensitive issues and put them up to the speed in the understanding these issues. Teaching them how to recognize the signs and knowing their rights and how to fight for their rights.

Commemoration of International Women’s Day on 8^th of March provided a good opportunity to reach out to them to and teach them about GBV, SRHR and personal hygiene especially in this time of COVID-19 and also to give them few hygiene kits to enable them observe good hygiene behavior.

She also said that they targeted both boys and girls because they understood that boys also suffer Gender Based Violence, so they should also understand GBV.

She informed that Haly Hope Foundation engages in advocacy on SGBV, intervention in area of health especially SRH of women and girls with disabilities, intervention also in the area of education that is why they are targeting the schools because they believe in catching them young, they are also looking into the issue of drug abuse, women empowerment, policy formulation to ensure the promotion of disability inclusion.

She expected changes in their personal hygiene, more understanding of their rights on GBV and SRH and how to fight for their rights at the end of the project.

WATCH THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S INTERVIEW

They formed some groups and engage them with some activities and they would be coming back for follow up to ascertain the progress of the training.

TQM learnt that the team targeted 100 young girls with disabilities in the school which they have trained, they would be providing mentorship for them to be young advocates on GBV and SRH of women and girls with disabilities.  

The Nigeria Association of the blind (NAB), Ogun State Chapter conducted their election on Saturday and the former Secretary of the Chapter, Rotarian Joseph Oluwasesan Bulugbe (Esq.) emerged victorious and he is going to be the new Chairman of NAB Ogun State Chapter. The disability advocate and philanthropist in excitement of his resounding victory, gave an eloquent acceptance speech. TQM was on hand to bring to you our readers his acceptance as he get set to assume the position of the Chairman which going by his antecedents, there are high expectations that he will deliver. See his full speech:

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH BY THE NEWLY ELECTED
CHAIRMAN OF THE NIGERIA ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND
OGUN STATE CHAPTER (OGUNNAB)

Good day, distinguished members of our great Association,

Today is indeed another memorable day in the history of the Nigeria Association of the Blind (Ogun state chapter) as it marks the beginning of a new era of tranquility and goodwill.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to the amiable delegates from the three senatorial districts of our state; the representative of the Ogun State Ministry of Women Affairs, the founder of this Association in person of Chief Dr Samuel Ade Okubanjo, the national officers of our great Association, the security men, the agents, the volunteers, the media men and women, and above all the esteem members of this Association, who contributed immensely to the success of our congress and election of the new executive members that will pilot the affairs of this Association for the next four (4) years.

I am deeply inspired and honored by the praise, appreciation, encouragement and congratulations from all of you. With endless gratitude to the Almighty God and sincere appreciation to you for your confidence in me, demonstrated by entrusting me with the onerous but honorable and noble task of taking the lead in strengthening our organization for the next four years and lifting it to a higher level, I humbly accept the choice of NAB members electing me as Chairman of our dear Association.

As I have enumerated in my manifesto, I wish to make “OgunNab”, a Chapter that all other Chapters in Nigeria would emulate. I want to reiterate, that my four years as the former secretary of this Association gave me ample opportunity to fully understand the dynamics and workings of the system. Therefore, I consider my election as a call to duty; a call I am prepared and willing to undertake. As I accept the call to serve, I think of the founders of this Association and I challenge us to work together with the same determination and with the guidance of our motto to take our dear Association forward and to realize the potential of each members.

There is no that the electoral process has proven that “OgunNAB” has truly grown in stature and maturity and is firmly in the hands of the members. The formidable team that you have elected has a fundamental job at hand and I am confident that we shall not let you down.

My acceptance Speech would be incomplete if I fail to appreciate the outgoing Executive Members under the Leadership of Dr. Micheal Ebonhor for the splendid job that it accomplished during the last four years
Lastly, I welcome the new Executive Members to this challenging responsibility that OgunNAB has bestowed on us. I assure the members of OgunNAB that we are equal to the task and as a team we shall deliver.

Once again thank you for the confidence reposed in me and my co-executive members to serve our dear Association for the next four years.

In all, I will continue to advocate for progress, peace and transparency. I remain my humble self, Rotarian Joseph Oluwasesan Bulugbe (Esq.).

God bless us, God bless NAB, God bless Ogun State and God bless Nigeria.
Thank you

TQM report,

The Management of Taimako Community Development Initiative (Taimako-CDI) have appreciated the contribution of Comrade Muhammad Abba Isa for his contribution towards promotion of disability Inclusion.

This appreciation was conveyed through a letter dated 20th March, 2020 signed by the Executive Director of the group, Gambo Garba Muhammad.

The group appreciated Comrade Muhammad Abba for the immense support he has given to the organization to the successful handover of facility to beneficiaries’ communities in Gujba LGA.

“We sincerely thank you once again for finding time to attend the occasion and we want to appeal to you to continue to support and partner with us in humanitarian and development programmes and activities aimed at alleviating the sufferings of affected and vulnerable populations” they added.

They prayed to God Almighty to bless him for his contribution to humanity.

Comr. Muhammad Abba Isa is a Disability Advocate for Disability Rights and Inclusive Development (DID) Yobe State.

Taimako Community Development Initiative is an NGO interested in promoting Disability Inclusion in Yobe State.

Accountability Lab Nigeria as part of the activities under their project “CivActs” supported by Voice Nigeria organized a One-day Multi Stakeholder Engagement on Strengthening Inclusion of the Marginalized Groups in FCT.

The organization in the meeting presented a survey they carried out through the project which aimed at collecting citizen or community data that could bridge the gap between communities and stakeholders with a spotlight to the plight of marginalized groups. The survey was carried in the month of November and December through a random sampling method conducted in FCT, Kaduna and Imo State and the marginalized groups targeted are women, youths and persons with disabilities.

The survey was highly inclusive, there is 55% women representation and 25.3 % persons with disabilities representation and the largest demography is the youth between 26-35years which is the 33.8 % of the respondents to the survey.

Key findings of the survey are:

1. There is a huge mistrust for government and stakeholders in communities
2. Communities do not feel carried along or sense of belonging in decision making process (they feels that their opinion does not count, and they seek for opportunity to participate in the process).
3. There is lack of access to information on how they can participate in decision making process
4. Communities would also like to engage with elected representatives and government more often.

The stakeholders at the meeting agreed that there should be more government engagement to build synergy between the government and the communities taking in consideration the peculiar needs of these marginalized group.

Emmanuel Odeh, the country director, Accountability Lab while while responding to a question from TQM, said that inclusion and inclusive service delivery is the two thematic areas they should be working on and that includes working with the National Commission of Persons with disabilities to see how they work together to strengthen disability inclusion in Nigeria.

The stakeholders at the meeting were organizations and representatives of the marginalized groups from the three state where this project is targeting which is Imo, Kaduna and FCT.

SOME PICTURES OF THE EVENT

by Loveth Asogwa Obiora,

The Albino Foundation TAF organized a one- day dialogue series on change in professional career path for young men and women with disabilities on Thursday 25^th March 2021 in Abuja.

The event which was supported by SightSavers is designed to guide young men and women with disabilities towards choosing a career path that would favourable to them.

Mr. Damian Ivom, the National Program Officer, TAF while welcoming the participants explained the objectives of the workshop; he stated that the workshop is to ascertain why persons with disabilities (PWDs) do not study professional courses. Speaking further, he asked whether, is the fault of the school authorities or persons with disabilities themselves. They want to understand why PWDs  always find themselves reading courses such as special education, sociology, political science, English and soon instead of reading professional courses like engineering, medicine, pharmacy, law,  accounting etc. It is just a very few of them that have successfully completed their degrees on professional courses.

This is a forum that has brought together PWDs, University dons, relevant MDAS to understand the factors responsible for PWDs inability to study professional courses.

The facilitator, Prof. Mutiullah Olasupo, who doubles as a person with disability and University don said that PWDs need to have a systematic strategic stand point for admission process into universities to study professional courses, he advised PWDs to always stand their ground when they make decision about their career path, they should not allow the views of others to discourage them in their career pat.  He gave example  on how he was discouraged from reading law when he was told that as a lawyer, one should be so strict and wicked and also liars so for that fact he was convinced not to read law that he have so desired to study then.

Other participants who are PWDs also shared their experiences on how the school authorities were able to prevent them from going into professional courses of their choice and they were made to read courses like special education, mass communication, English and some others alike.

It was established from the story shared that the problems is partly PWDs and also school authority why is that some PWDs were not strong willed to stand their ground to study professional courses of their choice and on the part of the school the authorities don’t belief in the capabilities of PWDs when it comes to studying professional courses and again they lack facilities and teaching techniques that would enhance learning for all categories of PWDs

Jake Epelle Founder/CEO, TAF reacting to comments from the participants promised to intervene in any case concerning denying PWDs admission on basis of his/her disability. He urged PWDs to bring it to the notice of TAF and he assured to fight on behalf of the person as long as there is facts and evidences, he also advised persons with disabilities to do away with charity mentality saying that he can only stand for someone if the person have met the requisite qualification.

He concluded by calling on all disability advocates to come together and leave individual differences and work for the common goal of disability community. He said that if we come together we are bigger than individual and that is how we can assist many of our community members who have one challenge or the other especially in the issue of denial of admission into universities.

The participants were grouped into three to come up with the ways forward towards enhancement of opportunities for PWDs to gain admission and study professional courses. The resolutions raised from the group discussions would be articulated by the leaders of the group as a communiqué which would be shared among critical stakeholders to aid their engagement towards encouragement of PWDs to study professional courses in Nigerian universities.

The participants where drawn from graduates with disabilities, university dons, relevant MDA’s educationist and the media.

SOME PICTURES OF THE EVENT

Dana Air’s Discriminating Policy Against the PWDs: NNAD SAYS NO TO INJUSTICES

Nigeria National Assocation of the Deaf have condemned in strong terms the discrimination Dana Air have subjected persons with disabilities to whenever PWDs seek their services.

In a statement released by Engr Timothy Adejumo, the National Secretary General,
Nigerian National Association of the Deaf
Abuja, the group said that they have been following the scenarios around the Dana Air’s continuous discrimination of the Persons with Disabilities (including the Deaf), through additional charges (which they called TAX), cancellation of ordered tickets, delaying of scheduled flights, etcetera, with no other reason (s) than their passenger’s state of disability(ies).

“The latest being one of our Deaf Lawyers, Barrister Catherine Edeh, that had smooth conversations with Dana Air customer service until she stated that she is Deaf. The event happened on 23rd March, 2021 in Lagos” he added.

The group wholeheartedly condemned these acts of discrimination on the Deaf and the other disability clusters.

The group is offering supports and collaboration with regulatory agencies and other Clusters to stand against these kinds of discrimination on us. IT MUST STOP.

By Chukwudi Ndubeze

The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) Anambra State Chapter has rated Anambra state Governor, Willie Obiano as the most disability friendly Governor in the country following his giant strides in the disability community in the state.

The recognition was made by the state Chairman of the Association, Ugochukwu Okeke during a press briefing at the Prof Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka, Wednesday, in commemoration of the Governor Willie Obiano’s seventh year anniversary as the executive Governor the state.

Describing Obiano’s love for persons with disabilities as unparalleled, Ugochukwu who is also a member of Anambra State Capital Expenditure Bilateral Discussion Committee extolled the Governor for what he described as selfless service and dedication to the welfare of persons with disabilities in the state.

He said that the Governor has demonstrated deep concern for the economic welfare of the People with Disabilities (PWD) with various appointment of qualified PWD into the state civil service which he said puts smiles on the faces of the beneficiaries.

recalls that the Governor on 18th December ,2018 had signed the Disability Rights law, thereby changing the issue of Disability rights from object of charity to a subject of right which has ensured safety of the group members from discrimination and intimidation in the state.

He however, commended Obiano for following that move with the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in his 2021 budget as well as increasing budget provisions to take care of the the needs of the Disabilities in the state, a demonstration he said is a clear sign of belief of ability in disability.

Earlier, during the briefing, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Disability Matters, Barr. Chuks Ezewuzie extolled Obiano’s empowerment initiative aimed at equipping People With Disabilities with requisite skills to fend for themselves as well as include them in the governance of the state.

Barr. Ezewuzie said Obiano set a standard by the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in his government stating that gone are the days when People with disabilities were seen as beggars on the streets. He said that Willie Obiano changed peoples’ perception of Disabilities by turning the them into effective part of the state workforce.

Ezewuzie who stated that the seven letters of ‘ Empower’ defined Obiano’s seven years of giant strides commended the Governor for choosing to to show Persons with disabilities ‘how to fish’ through his empowerment programmes adding that such initiative had helped bridge the gap of opportunities for the Disabilities in the state.

He recalled that Governor Obiano employed several persons with Disabilities into the state civil service workforce and even promoted civil servants with disabilities who he said had stagnated in various positions.

He also stated that the governor employed five sign language interpreters to facilitate ease of communication for the deaf in the state including employment of three computer and Braille instructors whose services was to enhance productivity of the employed persons with disabilities.

Meanwhile, Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Utilities and Water Resources, Mr Victor Meju appreciated the governor for the opportunities it gave to some of the persons with disability to participate in government.