The Executive Director of Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) David Anyaele joins PWDs in Kogi state and Nigeria as a whole to applaud Governor Yahaya Bello and members of the 6th State House of Assembly for the passage of the Disability Bill into law in the state.

In a press release to The Qualitative Magazine, he commended the efforts and commitment of the governor in ensuring that no one is abused by reason of Disability.

This act of signing Disability Bill into law by Governor Bello has place Kogi State in the Royal Hall of Disability friendly States in Nigeria.

The centre called for total implementation of the #DisabilityActNGR in Kogi State to ensure the attainment of the objectives of the law, and improved PWDs participation in democratic governance in the State.

He then assured the Kogi state government of CCDs’ readiness to support them and PWDs in particular for the full implementation of the law.

This evening on Monday 3rd June, 2019, the Governor of Kogi State Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello have given the people with disabilities in Kogi state a Sallah gift by signing the disability right bill transmitted to him by Kogi State House of Assembly into law. This has given all persons with disabilities in Kogi State a sense of belonging.  Governor Yahaya Bello have made history by this singular act. It is a heart-warming news to all persons with disabilities in Kogi state, their friends and families. It is a victory to all people of Kogi state because issues of disability is everybody business.

Recalled that recently, GYB promised people with disabilities in Kogi state that he will sign the disability rights bill once it is transmitted during an advocacy visit to his office led by the Chairman, Kogi State Joint National Association of Persons with disabilities(JONAPWD) Arome Ibro. Details later……

Alhaji Salisu Usman, the only physically challenged member-elect soon to be inaugurated as a legislator in the Zamfara House of Assembly, has indicated interest in being the Speaker of the House.
Usman, who joined 23 other members-elect to receive his certificate of return from INEC on Friday in Gusau, declared his interest to lead the north-western state’s legislature on Saturday.
The member-elect, a PDP member, is to represent Zurmi East constituency.
He said: “I want to contest the seat because I know my capacity and zeal. I am ready to work for the people of Zamfara,” Usman said in Gusau after a solidarity rally organised by the state’s chapter of People With Disabilities.
“I am confident in my ability to lead the state’s legislators; I know my ability; I believe I can take care of the responsibilities of being a Speaker.
“I started my civil service carreer as a junior staff and rose to the level of Director. I have the leadership experience having handled many responsibilities.
“I served as a director in various ministries, departments and parastatals in Zamfara State Civil Service.
“I have the support of my party from the wards, local governments, senatorial zones to the state level. I am also optimistic that my colleagues will support me.”
Earlier, Malam Shehu Fada, state chairman of the people with disabilities association, had thanked the People Democracy Party for the opportunity given to persons with special needs to contest for elective positions under its platform.
Fada urged the party to support Usman’s bid to be  Speaker.
He said:  “We know him very well. He is one member our union is very proud of. We have confidence in his capacity to deliver. We know what he can deliver.”

by Agbo Chris

Mube Awala Beatrice is a woman with disability who have distinguished herself in career and her passion of helping children, the elderly, widows, people in the prisons and persons with disabilities especially women with disabilities whom she has empowered economically over the years.

In any worthy effort, there is a reward. On Sunday, 26^th May, 2019,  the Anglican Communions (Diocese of Kubwa) Saints Bartholomew’s Cathedral Phase 2 Site 2, Kubwa-Abuja honoured Beatrice Mube with an induction into the Anglican Communion women guild, a fit one can attain through her consistent period of character check, active participation in church activities, effort in helping the poor and the needy, assisting special group like persons with disabilities, visiting and helping those in prisons, and also playing a motherly role to all children on the street, church and neighbourhood.

Just like Beatrice statement after the induction “Disability is not an excuse not to serve God. We should serve God and humanity in all capacity”, we say serving God and humanity no matter your condition can only bring honour to you. With this we congratulate Mube Beatrice for joining the league of great women in the Lord.   

By Ibrahim Musa Giginyu

A complete blind student, Abdullahi Umar Abdullahi has graduated with a Second Class Upper (2:1) degree in Bayero University Kano. Umar graduated from the department of Special Education in the Faculty of Education of the university.

This was disclosed by the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Muhammad Yahuza-Bello, at a pre-convocation press conference yesterday. According to him, a student with disability, who is among the 9,571 graduants for the Monday, June 10 convocation, studied with normal students in the department.

“A completely blind student is among the graduants of this year’s convocation. He graduated from the department of Special Education with Second Class upper, that is 2:1. “Interestingly, this kind student studied amidst normal students using his braile and other instruments used for blind students,” Mr Yahuza said The VC also disclosed that another blind person, Jibrin Diso would be awarded with the honor of professorship during the forthcoming convocation. Speaking further on the activities for the forthcoming 35th convocation ceremony of the institution, Mr Yahuza said, out of the total 9,571 graduants, 6,174 would be awarded with first degree, adding that there was 11% increase in the number of students that graduated last year. He added that 3,405 graduants would be awarded with higher degrees and post graduate diplomas, adding that 105 students graduated with First Class Honors. He explained that this year’s convocation ceremony was scheduled to hold for five days from June 10 to 15, adding that the institution would also confer honorary degrees on Senator Bello Hayatu Gwarzo, Tony Elumelu and Folake Solanke.

by Agbo Chris

Disability Rights Advocacy Centre (DRAC) between 28^th to 30^th May,2019 as part of its Respect Not Abuse (RNA project organized a training for its staff, disabled people’s organizations and Civil Society Organization on Monitoring and Evaluation(M&E). The training was ably funded by Christoffel Blinden Mission (CBM). The training was to equip the participants with the project management skills to effectively manage project design and delivery. According to the Executive Director of DRAC Dr. Irene Ojiugo Patrick Ogbogu, the training was put together to enhance the capacity of their partners in the area of efficiency in putting their proposals and improve their skills in project design and management.

It was a 3 day intensive training of participants and the facilitators took the participants through some important topics in M&E such as basic concepts and theories in M&E, Theory of Change, Organizational objectives, Building robust M&E system , Data Collection techniques, Indicators, Documentation & Reporting, M&E frameworks and Effective use of M&E finding.

The training was highly interactive and the participants were broken into groups time to time to perform some tasks to ascertain their understanding of the topics. It was a robust training session for the whole three days which must have to an extent impacted in the participants some rudiments of M&E to the admiration of their organizations and the expectations of DRAC.

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF THE EVENT:

by Agbo Chris

To mark the World Children’s Day, The Engraced ones (an NGO, prayer support and advocacy initiative with the main purpose of rallying round one another as parents of these children and to sensitize the public about their condition while advocating for better health, education and good living condition of vulnerable children) organized an event to celebrate children with special needs. The theme of the event was Inclusion; the crave of the Special Need Child.

The event that took in Abuja at the weekend was well attended by some schools(Deo Gratias College Garki-Abuja, Fruitful Vine Academy Nassarawa State, LEA Primary School Tudun Wada-Nassarawa State, Royal Breed Academy Kurudu-Abuja, and Atari Primary Nassarawa State), members of the group(mostly parents of the children with special needs), their friends and partners.

The event featured exciting programmes such as Debate(It was won by LEA Primary School Tudun Wada-Nassarawa State and the topic was Admission of a child living special needs into a mainstream school is not beneficial to the society), Drama, Poetry all performed by children and remarkably the induction of young people into Engraced Club which was initiated to as a target of raising a generation of young ambassadors/advocates for the children with special need who are referred to as Engraced Children by the group. There were goodwill messages from friends and partners of the group and all their messages were tailored towards more and persistent attention to the Engraced Children.

The founder of the group Mrs Biby Yinkere in her message pointed out that the theme of the event (inclusion; the crave of the special Child’) was chosen because the parents of these engraced children have observed the isolation of their children in all sphere of lives. In education, there is no provision for these children and most of the schools in Nigeria are not inclusive. In healthcare, the National Health insurance Scheme (NHIS) do not have any package towards addressing peculiar needs of these Engraced Children. Religion is not left out of it, most settings in Churches and Mosques are not structured to carry along and address the spiritual needs of Engraced children.

she informed other young ones that as parents, they are hurt when they refused to play with their engraced children and even when they call them derogatory names and make derogatory comments on them. She urged the young ones at the event to always speak up for the engraced ones and help them make progress. She went further to urge the parents and teachers at the event to work together and also take responsibility of understanding and helping these engraced children to push through their challenges and limitations.

Finally, she called on the government, civil society, other critical stakeholders and `well-meaning individuals to work in one accord towards providing an enabling environment for the engraced children to thrive especially now that we have disability rights act, let government implement it fully. With your support, inclusive friendship, affordable special and inclusive education and healthcare can be achieved.

The Engraced Children are largely children living with cerebral palsy, autism, and other intellectual disabilities.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE EVENT PICTURES:

by Agbo Chris

The newly-inaugurated Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde in his inaugural speech yesterday at Ibadan promised to establish a commission for people with disabilities. Noting that successive government have not paid adequate attention to our people who live with disabilities. He said that people with disabilities in Oyo state have faced challenges and neglect in some many areas such as the lack of access to healthcare, education, work opportunities and stigmatization. He promised that the relief has come for people with disabilities in Oyo state, a commission will be established and the mandate of the commission will be to improve the lives of people living with disabilities. In addition, he promised that his government will develop an institutional framework for enforcing compliance with equal opportunity principle and they will also encourage the private sector to hire persons with disabilities by offering them tax incentives.

See the full text of the Speech:

Inaugural Address by His Excellency, Seyi Makinde, the Executive Governor of Oyo State, during his Swearing-in Ceremony at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan on May 29, 2019.

“Ají ṣe bí Òyó làárí, Òyó ò kí ṣe bí baba ẹnìkan.” Oyo leads and others imitate. We are a state proud of our many firsts.

In 1965, just five years after Nigeria’s independence, the first skyscraper was built in the Western region, in an area that later became part of our beloved Oyo State.

Well before independence, this same territory hosted the first TV station in Nigeria, the first university, the first housing estate in Nigeria, the first government secretariat and the first modern parliament. Let me also add that we host the first stadium in Africa, the first dual carriage road and more recently, the first private TV station in Nigeria.

Reflecting on these firsts makes you realize that there must be something special about this region. The legendary Oyo greatness, the Pacesetter State, lives on.

I am greatly honored to stand before you today to assume the overwhelming mandate you have given me.

This inaugural address will not dwell on the past but look to the future because of the urgency and the magnitude of the task ahead of us.

We want all of you to be a part of the implementation as we work together to move our state forward. We may make decisions that are sometimes uncomfortable but we will try our best to always be just, fair and act with the fear of God.

I am here as your governor to serve you. I will work tirelessly and take responsibility for the workings of every sector. While I will delegate effectively, the buck will stop with me. I want you to hold me accountable and I will also hold you accountable as we work as partners to bring Oyo State to glory.

We will be a progressive administration; building on the programmes of past administrations that were structured properly and have been beneficial to the masses. When the need arises, we will consult our predecessors and draw on their experiences. We will put aside partisan politics for the good of our state.

We will bring in new ideas and explore new initiatives. We will partner with local and foreign investors, some of whom are here with us today.

I was drawn to politics because I saw the way the wealth meant for everyone was being siphoned by a few to enrich themselves while leaving the masses in desperate poverty and dehumanizing suffering, and our land in ruin. We have an opportunity to change this and we will.

With good governance, we will more than confront poverty, we will usher in an era of progress and prosperity. To do this, I speak to your consciences; we have to shun the way things are currently done. Every one of us in every walk of life must embrace accountability and hard work. I promised the Nigerian Labour Congress during all of our meetings that our relationship will deal with issues openly and sincerely because we are all in this together.

We have already started working on our campaign promises. In the area of investments, we promised that our administration will be pro-private investments, that we will make Oyo State the preferred investment destination in Nigeria.

We recognise that one of our areas of comparative advantage is agriculture. I am excited to tell you today, that we have already taken steps to market our potentials. Our farmers will be happy to know that we are in talks with Botswana to export our maize to them. Our African neighbours have in the recent past, imported from Central America, but they are ready to give us a chance. We welcome the delegation from Botswana led by Business Botswana President, Gobusamang Keebine.

During our campaigns, as we moved from one local government to the other, we listened to people discuss their concerns. I know that the people of Oyo State are not asking for too much.

We spoke to the businessmen who are hurting under multiple taxations, who are pained because the ease of doing business is so bad that Oyo State ranks thirty-five out of the thirty-six states in Nigeria. More businesses are shutting down than are being opened.

We spoke to farmers in settlements at Ipapo, Ilora, Eruwa, Ogbomosho, Iresaadu, Ijaiye, Akufo and Lalupon who complained about inability to access credit facilities, poor rural infrastructure especially feeder roads, difficulty in processing harvests, and lack of storage facilities. We listened to leaders and members of the Joint Farmers Association and agropreneurs talk about the challenges in the agriculture sector and proffer solutions which we will implement. Our administration will make providing infrastructure a priority.

We spoke with parents of children in public secondary schools who out of their meager resources still have to scrounge N3,000 per child so that their children can get an education and increase their opportunities. Our region that housed the first university in Nigeria now has a state with the seventh highest number of out-of-school children. Over 400,000 children in Oyo State are out of school.

Effective immediately, the school fees of N3,000 in state-owned secondary schools is hereby abolished. We want enrollments to go up, we want our children off the streets and in the classrooms. We are throwing the school doors wide open. Whoever opens a school door, opens an opportunity. We are opening opportunities for a brighter future.

We also know that education standards in Oyo State are poor. Oyo State recently ranked twenty-sixth in Nigeria in WAEC performance. While we invite the students to come in, we will focus on raising the standard of education in Oyo State. We will work on providing needed infrastructure and man power by increasing Oyo State’s education budget to 10% of our total annual budget, increasing yearly until we match UNESCO’s recommendation of 15-20%. We will be a pacesetter state in education.

We know that quality education is not possible without quality teachers. Quality emoluments and benefits attract quality teachers. We are not ignorant of the plight of our dear teachers. We know the state of the teacher’s pension scheme. During my campaigns, I promised to donate my entire salary as governor to the Teacher’s Pension Fund. I stand by that promise.

We will seek practical ways to reposition the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso. You are aware that the university is jointly owned by Osun and Oyo State. We will reach out to our sister state and share ideas on how to move the institution forward. Our priority is a total takeover.

We spoke with people living with disabilities; successive governments have not paid adequate attention to our people who live with disabilities. We talked about the challenges and neglect they face; the lack of access to healthcare, education, work opportunities and stigmatisation.

To people living with disabilities in our state, I say, your relief has come. We will establish a Commission for People Living with Disabilities. The mandate of this parastatal will be to improve the lives of people living with disabilities. In addition, we will develop an institutional framework for enforcing compliance with our equal opportunity principle. We will also encourage the private sector to hire persons with disabilities by offering them tax incentives.

We spoke with people facing health challenges. We are planning interventions in the sector under two main headings: providing primary health care and making health insurance more accessible to the people of Oyo State.

Access to good healthcare is non-negotiable. It is the responsibility of government to ensure there are adequate medical and healthcare facilities for all persons. Therefore, in the first two years of our administration, no new healthcare centre will be built. The focus will be to upgrade the existing ones by renovating and equipping them.

In the same vein, our strategy for implementing the health insurance scheme will involve updating existing interventions and making them more accessible. By November, we would have completed a needs assessment and identified local associations willing to participate in the health insurance scheme and use them to get insurance benefits to the most vulnerable in the state.

We will also embark on extensive reformation of the Hospital Management Board for more effective service delivery in our hospitals.

The biggest issue facing the people of Oyo State is poverty. We need money to confront poverty. Oyo State needs money. Right now, Oyo State’s income stands at 33% from Internally Generated Revenue and over 60% FAAC allocations. This is why we are constantly in a cycle of debt and liability. This model is unsustainable. It has to change.

We will reduce government overheads, increase the efficiency in tax collection, simplify the tax payment system and cut down on debt accumulation without concrete repayment plans. We cannot do this without your support.

I am taking this opportunity to solicit your support. We are going to be taking decisions that may be tough in the immediate but will have long-term benefits. We want you to look at the big picture. We want you to focus on the goal.

For example, I have always said that the Oyo State civil servants deserve to earn a whole lot more for their dedication and service to the state. Recently, the Federal Government announced a new salary scheme in which the lowest cadre of civil servants are expected to earn at least N30,000.

I know how access to this type of money will improve the lives of many of the families that I have had direct contact with. However, with the way the Oyo State account currently stands, I will be deceiving you if I said we are capable of taking on this burden.

I believe in true Federalism. I believe the states should decide the minimum wage of their workforce based on individual realities. All states are not created equal, so it is against the principle of fairness to apply a blanket rule to govern them all.

That being said, our plan is to make Oyo the first state to pay above the national minimum wage. We know this is possible. We have already set our plan in motion to make this possible. But, this requires time. We propose staggered increments. I met with organized labour during my campaigns and made a pledge to an open relationship.

I intend to stand by that promise. We will have a sincere conversation and arrive at the best possible decision. Rest assured that the decision will put your overall best interests first.

We will set up a committee in due course to look into all cases of those who believe they have been wrongly dismissed from the civil service, including those whose cases have been decided in their favour in court who have not been reinstated.

We have interacted with students, workers, artisans, young and elderly people; the story is the same. Everyone wants something better.

Our focus as a government will be to implement policies which will give our people the tools they need to lift themselves out of grinding poverty and lack. We published our Road Map for Accelerated Development, 2019-2023, three months before the elections. We want you to hold us to our promises.

In that document, we set forth our policies for tackling the infrastructure deficits, enabling an efficient health sector, improving security, youth empowerment, social inclusion and protection. Our policies reflect an understanding of the magnitude of problems Oyo State people face and our determination to use the instruments of focused leadership to tackle them. We are not promising miracles, we promise that results will happen if we work together, and that you will see the results, some in a matter of weeks.

I cannot end this address without expressing my gratitude to God and the good people of Oyo State, the leaders and members of our great party, the PDP as well as the coalition of parties; ADC, SDP and ZLP who worked together to ensure we were successful. I also thank members of my campaign organisation including volunteers all over Oyo State who believed in our vision and worked tirelessly to achieve success. My darling wife, Ominini has been a pillar of support, thank you so much.

As I promised in my open letter to the people of Oyo State in December 2018, I will be the people’s governor. I will run an all-inclusive government for the benefit of everyone in our dear state regardless of their tribe, religion, social class or political affiliations.

I believe that being a leader should not be seen as a leeway to dominate and dictate but as a privilege and opportunity to serve, leaving a lasting legacy of positive change and continued growth.

Oyo State is the pacesetter state. We are determined to continue setting the pace. We are poised to continue moving forward by focusing on the right priorities. As governor, my duty is to create opportunities for all Oyo State citizens, regardless of where they live, and that starts with education and jobs.

A good job and a great education are not rural or urban issues; they are Oyo State issues. As governor, I will not rest until good jobs, thriving businesses, and quality education are the standard in Oyo State.

Together, we can do this!

I promised ‘omituntun’ it is time to experience ‘omituntun.’

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Long live Oyo State.