BY BULUS IZANG

The Qualitative Magazine TQM on Thursday 17th of September, 2020 in Jos, Plateau State organized a one Day capacity Building Workshop for the Media, on Disability Rights and the Use of Disability Right Terminologies in media reportage.

It is part of The Qualitative Magazine TQM ongoing project” Connecting our Voices To The World supported by Oxfam VoiceThe workshop was aimed at getting the Media to understand the content of Disability Rights, via the laws and their provisions on rights of persons with disabilities and the punishment accrued in contravention of such Rights. As well as equipping the Media with the appropriate terminologies to be used in referring to different forms of disabilities.

The Executive Director of The Qualitative Magazine, Agbo Chris Obiora in his welcoming remark said that the idea of the media engagement and adequately enhance their capacity is because of the view that the media is a key stakeholder and the major means of educating and creating awareness in the society in general. Speaking further, he said that TQM desires to build champions of disability issues among media practitioners. He said that if the media doesn’t understand the issues, the Disability law would be difficult to be communicated to the public and the public have critical role to play in the implementation of the act. He also said that it is imperative that the media understand the acceptable disability terminology while referring to persons with disabilities because it is what the media dish out to the public that they will believe. Meanwhile such words, persons with disabilities find them offensively because they are derogatory.

Longji Josiah, Esq, a member of Association of Lawyers With Disabilities ( ALDIN) and a resource person at the workshop, an amputee who lost his limbs in an auto crash during his School years, he eloquently discussed the Disability Rights and SDGs, How they related to address issues around the plight of persons with disabilities. He took the participants on the United Nations Convention on Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the Nigeria Disability Act. He explained that the act was enacted by National Assembly that’s why is a National Act, Plateau State Disability Right Commission (2005) is referred as Law because it is enacted by state Assembly mainly to cater or take care of persons with disabilities in the society.He regretted that even with the existence of these laws (1. Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (prohibition) Act,2018.2. Disability Right Commission Law (2005). And,3. Section 42. (2) 1999Constitution Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended, 2011)), many persons with disabilities rights are being violated whereas the laws are aimed to protect them from harmful practices but still a lot PWDs are not even aware of the existence of these laws.

While elaborating on the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act,2018. Barr. Longji said that the Act was signed into Law in January, 2019 by His Excellence President Mohammadu Buhari. The law is made up of 58 sections, section 1 to 30 provide for rights, privileges and responsibilities of persons with disabilities. While sections 31 to 39 provides for the establishment of the National Disability Rights Commission, Section 40 provide for the appointment of the Executive Secretary for the Commission, finally sections 57 and 58 is the interpretation and citation of the Act. He then States that, this law (Act) is to provide for the full integration of persons with Disabilities into the Society, established the national commission for persons with Disabilities, and the Commission is vested with the responsibilities for their education, health care, social, economic and civil rights and other related matters.
The various sections of the law touched on important aspects the lives of the persons with Disabilities, such as PART. 1 PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION AND AWARENESS PROGRAMME.
Subsection 1. Person with Disability shall not be discriminated in any form. Subsection 2. Provide punishment for contravention of subsection 1.

Section 2. Provide as, The Federal Ministry of Information shall promote awareness of rights, respect and dignity of persons with Disabilities, capabilities, achievement and contribution of persons with Disabilities to the Society. section. 3. Provide for right to access the physical environment on equal basis with others. Section 4. Provide public Shall be constructed with accessibility aids for accessible for persons with Disabilities.

Barr. Longji thinks this section 4 will face some challenges in terms of implementation. Most especially, with public building in Nigeria which are not friendly to persons with Disabilities. The Act made provision to correct these abnormalities in the section 4. With a transitory period of 5 years which started January, 2019.
PART V. LIBERTY, RIGHT TO EDUCATION, HEALTH AND FIRST CONSIDERATION ON QUEUES, ACCOMMODATION AND EMERGENCIES. Section 16. Prohibits the use or involvement of persons with Disabilities in begging. With a punishment of fine of #100,000.00 or six months imprisonment or both. Section 17. provide that puersons with Disabilities shall have an unfettered right to education without discrimination or segregation to Secondary school level. Section 28. Of the Act provide for employment of persons with Disability on equal basis with others in the labour market.

With at least 5% allocation to persons with Disabilities.With the above, Barr. Longji called on the media to be the Judge in this matter. Does Persons with Disabilities constituted at least 5% of the employment in the following organizations? Bank of Industry, CBN, NNPC, FIRS, PENCOM, NCC etc.
In his conclusion, Barr. Longji, said as good as these rights and laws are, the media is a major stakeholder in achieving the implementations. The bulk of awareness can be possible through the media. He appealed to the media and other stakeholders to help the persons with Disabilities to achieve this quest.

The second resource person Mr. Joshua Yenle a visual impaired person , a presenter and producer with Radio Nigeria Highland FM Jos.

In his presentation on mainstreaming the Disability issues with the media and the use of terminologies while referring to PWDs. He said that these terminologies are words use by the media to describe the condition of persons with Disabilities which may be degrading to such persons, their family members and as well as friends, if used wrongly.

Yenle said that though there are still controversy about terminologies when referring to a blind and deaf, the issue of visually impaired and hearing impaired which the deaf and blind are divided on which one is generally accessible internationally. He explained further that at times in the issue of the deaf and blind where there is controversy, put in consideration your location to avoid offending anyone. For example, here on the Plateau, particularly in University Of Jos, they prefer being called visually impaired than the blind, in Abuja and the blind association, they preferred the blind.“For a professional media person, the watchword is to see the person as a person before his or her condition, for example person using wheelchair or person using crutches, rather than the Cripple. Instead of Wheelchair bound, use Wheelchair user, instead Crazy, mad man, insane, use a person with mental illness, instead of persons living with Disabilities, use Persons with Disabilities, instead of Albino or Yellow, use a person with albinism, instead of a dwarf, use a little person or short stature and many more which will be sent to you because of time.Yenle described the term Accessibility as not only pertaining to restrictions to physical Structures but it also includes access to information at no extra cost by the blind and the deaf.

The workshop was interactive and engaging, the participants asked a lot questions, they made comments, contributions and commitments to work with PWDs on the Plateau.

Agbo Chris, In his closing remark appreciated the resource persons for their meaningful and good Presentation, while appreciating the media practitioners and their various media houses graced the Workshop, he urged them to ensure that the knowledge acquired is put to use but also step down knowledge and information to their fellow journalists for a better reportage on matters concerning Persons with Disabilities in the society.

He concluded by advising the media practitioners present to mainstreaming Disability issues in all their programs, He explained that Disability issues is cross-cutting so whatever they are discussing be it economy, politics, sports, science, technology, entertainment etc, they should also bring in Disability perceptive to them.

Some pictures of the workshop

SEE NEWS CLIP ON THE EVENT

Network of Disabled Women(NDW) on Saturday in Abuja organized One day Skill Training For Women and Girls With Disabilities.

The Executive Director, Network of Disabled Women (NDW), Lois Auta in a opening speech said that the project is geared towards championing gender and women equality. It is part of Canada Women’s voice and leadership Project Nigeria which supports regional women organizations and networks that are working to promote womens’ rights and also advance women development and gender equality in developing countries. building institutional capacity and promote network and alliance building for women as critical agent of change.

The project is expected to benefit 100 local women organization and their affiliates in few other states across Nigeria and the project encourage innovative ideas of women with disabilities.

The event is part of activities being carried out by NDW funded by Actionaid and Global Affairs Canada, she added.

The participants at the training who were drawn from different clusters of disability were taken by Barrister Ifenla Oligbinde on Proposal and Grant Writing where they were given tips of how to put together proposals that will be successful while applying for grants. This is to equip these women with the knowledge of applying and getting grants because some of them owns organizations and getting grants can help their work.

The participants were also trained on how to make liquid soap, hand sanitizer and air fresher by Beatrice Mube. The training was more of practical and she also gave them tips on how they can establish their own business, from registration process to production and how to find market for their products.

The highlight of the event was presentation of certificate to all the participants.

In TQM’s chat with Beatrice Mube, she encouraged the women to make use of the knowledge they have acquired, she also called other women with disabilities to always come forward each time there is an opportunity like this and she urged government to encourage women with disabilities because their challenges are double going by the discrimination as a woman and discrimination against a woman with disability.

One of the beneficiaries, Barrister Tracy, a woman with albinism told us that she learnt so many new things but her challenge now is that there is no money to start up. She appreciates Lois Auta and NDW for the initiative while calling on government agencies like CBN to come and partner with NDW to provide soft loans for women with disabilities. She also said that it will not be out of place for the new established National Commission for Persons with disabilities to start up their activities with a project like this because women with disabilities requires a lot of support.

by Chris Agbo,

STEP TO THE TOP LEADERSHIP CENTRE organized a 4 -day training of the trainers (TOT) on 16th- 19th September, 2020 in Abuja for women with disabilities.

STLC in continuation of Project Thinkable supported by Oxfam Voice which geared towards building the capacity women with disabilities through building confidence and self esteem to take up challenges of life.

The Founder of the organization Dr. Teresa Nwachukwu in her chat with TQM said that the event is all about training the selected alumni of Project Thinkable 1 to use them to train the participants in Project Thinkable 2 which will be coming up next month. Speaking further, she said that Project Thinkable is all about building the confidence and skills of women with disabilities to enhance the potentials. It is about inculcating life changing skills that can help them to excel in any of their chosen professions.

The participants in the four days training were taken on interesting topics such as Social Identity, Personal Vision, Personality and People, Professional image, Goal Setting, Working in Team, Leadership 101, Giving Feedback, Working with change, Values and Actions and Mental Models.

The training was engaging, interactive and participatory as the participants demonstrated the art of facilitating in order to practicalize the way they will be facilitating when they will take on the new recruits by next month.

Project Thinkable was a success in first season as most of the alumni are doing well in their chosen profession, notably is Avershim Akighir who is now a proud owner of disability advocacy TV Show known as Possibility TV show and also a baker and many others.

The selected alumni of Project Thinkable were drawn from different clusters of disability.

Some clips of The Workshop

Campaign for Equal Voting Access have presented their findings in ongoing Edo gubernatorial election.

The Campaign for Equal Voting Access, a program of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) participated actively in the observation of the September 19, 2020 Edo State Governorship Election organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

In a preliminary statement signed by Mr. David Anyaele, the chairman of the group, he said that they received reports from their field observers deployed across the three Senatorial Zones of the State. These observers were trained election observation with focus on equal voting access for persons with disabilities. The key objective of the observation exercise was to observe provisions made by INEC for persons with disabilities’ participation in the election, and raise awareness on equal voting rights for citizens with disabilities.

They commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of today’s election as we observed good turnout of voters as early as 8am.

EVAPWD is impressed to observe that marginalized populations – the aged, nursing mothers and pregnant women and persons with disabilities were offered priority voting in most of the polling units observed.

They commended Polling Officials for their efforts in this regard but they were worried that many voters with hearing impairments struggle without success to benefit from this provision.

EVA4PWDs observers observed that the promised Braille voter’s guide and Braille ballot paper by INEC for easy access of Election Day instructions, guidelines and ballot paper for Blind voters were scarcely available and where it was available, many INEC Ad-hoc Staff didn’t know it as they were calling their office, while some said they forgot it behind At Polling Unit 003, Car Park Ward 1, Oredo LGA, an observer assisted in locating the Braille material.

EVAPWD Observers did not see any magnified lens at the Polling Units, those that claimed to have one could not provide it for observers to see.

EVAPWDs also observed that Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials such as Election Day instructions and guidelines to assist the deaf or persons with hearing impairment understanding of voting process were missing at majority of the polling units visited. This is a barrier to accessibility according to election day procedure for the deaf or hearing impaired voters.

EVAPWDs observers report showed that large numbers of the polling units were not accessible to physically challenged persons. These polling units were sited in difficult places such as buildings without ramps/handrail, across gutter, staircase etc.

Observance of INEC Covid-19 guideline were not adhered to in majority of the Polling Units visited in Oredo LGA. There were large crowd at Greater Tomorrow High School Oredo Ward 1, Rama Park at Ikpoba Okha, Oredo LGA among other Polling Units.

With the above stated observations, the Campaign for Equal Voting Access for Persons with Disabilities a program of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) is disappointed that INEC displayed minimal commitment to implementation of the Framework on Access and Participation of Persons with Disabilities in the Electoral Process and the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018.

They urged INEC to address these issues as observed by EVAPWDs observers, especially as we move to Ondo State Governorship election next month.

The lingering crisis of Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) was resolved on Thursday 17th September, 2020 after a meeting between the two warring parties and the James Lalu, the Executive Secretary of National Commission of Persons with Disabilities.

It was from the intervention of the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, the Board of JONAPWD and other stakeholders, the peace deal was achieved.

In the spirit of sportsmanship, both Ekaete Umoh and Yusuf Iyodo decided to embrace peace and work together to advance the cause of JONAPWD.

Reiterating that, in this no victor no vanquished resolutions, parties on both sides are to be satisfactorily and productively engaged at various levels of interests and activities for the overall good of the members of the JONAPWD;

It is resolved as follows;-

1. That the election of November 16-17, 2018 is resolved in favour of Ms. Ekaete Umoh as National President along with other excos elected therein.
2. That the term of office subsists from November 17, 2018 thereon and shall elapse on November 17, 2022.
3. That Barr. Yusuf Iyodo is appointed to serve as Technical Assistant/consultant on project/programs of the JONAPWD.
4. That there shall be no victimization of any kind to any members of the hitherto side of divide as we are now all one united body.
5. That all parties shall join hands to ensure the Association move forward without rancour or acrimony.
6. That this Agreement forms the nucleus of the crisis resolution by which all court cases are ceased and therefore stand irrevocable.

The above items was agreed and undersigned on 16th of September, 2020 by Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, Honorable Minister, Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hon. James D. Lalu
Executive Secretary, NCPWD, Prince Paul Adelabu
JONAPWD Board Chairman, Ms. Omotunde Ellen Thompson JONAPWD Board Secretary, Ms. Ekaete Judith Umoh, JONAPWD National President,Barr. Yusuf Iyodo, Esq. JONAPWD Technical Assistant/consultant, Barr. Theophilus Odaudu
Representing DPOs/donor organizations.

The Center for Citizen with disabilities (CCD), on Tuesday in Abuja organized a day stakeholders forum tagged Convening on the Next Level Disability Advocacy.

Speaking at the event the Executive Director, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities CCD, David Anyaele in his remarks commended the federal government for responding to the plights of persons with disabilities by creating the commission. He stated that it is a struggle of over 17 years before the signing the disability bill into law and now a commission, CCD would be committed to supporting and also hold the members of the commission accountable to ensure that the set objectives are achieved.

Mr. Sam Amadi, the former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC, has advised the federal government to appoint competent persons to pioneer the affairs of National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD).

The Federal government had recently approved the appointment of executive members of the newly established National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD).

Speaking at the forum, Amadi pointed that to get it right, the initial step must be correct as the commission is the only platform where issues affecting persons living with disability can be addressed.

He emphasized that for the commission to have the right effect on the target masses, there must be transparency and justice in the appointment on key stakeholders. He also stressed the need to build a frame work ahead of time in which the commission will operate.

He also emphasized on the need for the Disability group to be unite and speak with one voice in order to successfully push through demands to the commission before any sense of division among Disability group will negatively affect the fortune of persons with disabilities even with a commission in place.

Mohammed Hassan speaking at the forum said that the Organization of persons with disabilities(OPDs) must found out the committee that will supervise the functions of the commission and engage them.

Hassan called for constant engagement with the disability group and the lawmakers for effective policy formulation that will protect the interest of persons with disabilities.

He also urged that appropriate measures be taken to ensure that there is adequate budget for the NCPWD.

He also advised that OPDs and the Commission should work together in engaging the yet to be identified committee that would be in charge of overseeing the Commission to ensure success of the commission .

Paul Orude, Bauchi

Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed has said that his administration will promote and uplift the general well-being of persons with disabilities in the State.

The Governor gave the assurance at Banquet Hall, Government House, Bauchi, when he distributed 90 mobility carts to some persons with physically disabilities across the twenty Local Government Areas of the State.

Governor Mohammed said to achieve the desired objectives, his administration would soon constitute the Board of Agency for Persons with Disabilities.

He said the distribution of the devices will help to cater for the needs of the beneficiaries, thereby addressing one of the most important needs of any human being, which is physical mobility.

The Governor added that the tricycles would provide an opportunity for beneficiaries to maximise their potentials, thrive and contribute valuably to society.

Governor Mohammed stated the readiness of his administration to continue to aggressively pursue policies and programmes that will transform the lives of the people of the State.

‘Let me congratulate all persons living with disability in Bauchi State on this auspicious occasion and I want to charge them to maximize the opportunities and platforms that have been provided for them by the present administration,’ he said.

‘I wish to reassure you, this Government will continue to encourage you to be united in the pursuit of your dreams of social inclusion.’

The Governor reiterated the commitment and desire of his administration to improve the quality of lives of the disabled persons by ensuring that, they enjoy their full rights and privileges as citizens of the State.

According to him, the administration will also formulate and implement policies and guidelines as appropriate for the education and social development of persons with disability.

He enjoined individuals endowed with wealth, corporate organisations and indeed institutions to always factor the less privileged, especially the vulnerable ones and others with challenges of disability in their charitable and intervention initiatives.

‘I am very pleased that, Bruder Hilfe is the first organisation among the five organisations that we have signed an agreement with them during my official working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany in March, 2020.

‘It was a very productive visit, I signed a total of five Memorandum of Understanding in the areas of Agriculture, Education, Road Construction, Water and Sanitation.

Governor Mohammed said that in order to actualise all the arrangements reached with the German investors, he has already constituted various inter-ministerial implementation committees to ensure that, full benefits are derived from the MoUs.

On her part, the President of the NGO, Mrs Mary Bamigbe Bruder, said the mobility carts are meant to lessen the hardship faced by persons with disabilities in Bauchi State.

She assured the Governor that the NGO will continue to do more by putting smile on the faces of vulnerable members of the society notably in the areas of health and education.

‘Your Excellency, let me thank you for your efforts to see to the success of this presentation. This is a clear demonstration of your quality leadership you have been providing to the entire people of Bauchi State as well as carrying everyone along including persons with disability.

‘Your Excellency, the mobility carts are humanitarian support from Bruder-Hilfe, an NGO based in Germany, in collaboration with the Nigerian Embassy, Germany and in partnership with the Bauchi State Government.

‘This is our first phase of intervention in Bauchi State,’ she said.

by Chris Agbo

Disability-Inclusion-Nigeria on Wednesday 9^th September, 2020 put up another good show in the second episode of monthly webinar put together to mentor persons with disabilities towards enhancement of their political fortune. The project known as ElectAbility Project-PWDs’ mentorship forum for political inclusion in Nigeria is a brainchild of the convener of Disability Inclusion Nigeria, Mr. Jake Epelle, the founder of The Albino Foundation.

The September edition witnessed the presence of panelists such as His Excellency Amb. Ketil Karlsen, Ambassador, EU Delegation to Nigeria/ECOWAS, Prince Adedeji Soyebi, National Commissioner, INEC, Jake Epelle. The webinar was facilitated and coordinated by Wilson Manji, from ECES.

Jake Epelle in his opening remark informed that the day discussion focused on the understanding the electoral body, digging to understand what INEC is doing for persons with disabilities, he acknowledges that IBEC is doing well and we will look at the international best practices they we should be copying in our quest in political participation.

Amb. Ketil Karlsen in his speech said that there are no international best practices out there to copy but there are some basic things Nigerians with disabilities must adopt in order to enhance their political participation. He pointed some things such as physical access, political culture, identifying political parties and champions that can break the deadlock and finally all these will based on data and knowledge, you don’t build something on nothing, you need to understand the needs and your interventions are to address the identified needs not to based your actions on speculation, that if they are put together in a comprehensive framework and carry out individually through designing of activities, policies and legislations, PWDs political capital will be greatly improved.  

Prince Adedeji Soyebi said that INEC for close to 13 years have developed policy on disability inclusion, INEC during elections give particular attention to some group they referred a special group which consist of pregnant women, the aged and people with disabilities. He also said that INEC has been working closely with the organization of persons with disabilities(OPDs) and they have developed a framework to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities in the electoral process. This has led to development of some practices on the elections to mainstream people with disabilities. INEC has over 150, 000 polling booths and there are located in places where INEC don’t know have control over to ensure that they are all accessible to voters with disabilities but INEC has put measures in place to ensure that voters with disabilities are properly taken care of in the polling booths whenever they are there to vote. There is priority voting for persons with disabilities, introduction of braille ballot guide to ensure that the blind vote for a candidate of their choice without being guided by someone, the use of magnified glasses for the persons with albinism and posters inscription in the polling booths to guide the deaf voters. INEC is also administering form EC40E at the polling booths to gather disaggregated data of voters with disabilities to plan for future elections.

He stated that the training manual for Adhoc staff has been rebuilt and the inclusion of persons with disabilities is very loud and INEC ensures that they are well oriented about priority voting of persons with disabilities, safety of voters with disabilities and other things that will make voting seamless for persons with disabilities especially in Edo and Ondo elections.  

On reacting on a question about affirmative action for PWDs, he said that it is beyond the purview of INEC, he advised that the persons with disabilities should explore the option of legislation to achieve that.

Jake Epelle in his speech laid emphasis on leadership qualities as key to success in politics. He read out some leadership qualities that PWDs must acquire if they should succeed in politics. PWDs should be extraordinary political leaders. PWDs should not come into stage with a faulty character or integrity questions. Character is who you are in the dark, and integrity is saying something and doing exactly what you said. PWDs should be visionary so that your followers should see through your vision.

Go back to your place mobilize and building the capacity of your people but speaking and standing by them by so doing, you are building followers.

A leader must be service delivery, you must have service that you render to your people and you must have a succession plan, as you are getting into power, you should have your exit plan, look for who will succeed you and carry on your plans. He said that you must possess these things for you to be a successful political leader.

The webinar was attended by PWDs and some of their friends across the country and it was interacting and impactful.