By Chinomso Momoh,
As Muslims in Nigeria celebrate Eid al-Adha, Women Rights Initiative (WORI) has lamented the plight of people with disabilities (PWDs) in the country.
Development Diaries reports that Nigeria is one of the major countries in Africa where little or no attention is paid to the plight of PWDs.
Figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) indicate that the country is home to an estimated 30 million PWDs.
Although the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) already guarantees all people with disabilities their human rights on an equal basis with others, many people with disabilities in Nigeria face specific forms of discrimination.
They face exclusion from governance, electoral process, health care, education, employment, and social and community life.
‘As we celebrate this festival, let’s have it in mind that we need more women and persons with disability in governance’, the WORI Executive Director, Laiatu Bamaiyi, said in her Sallah message to Muslims in Birnin Kebbi.
Specifically, she appealed to President Bola Tinubu and Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi State to appoint more women and PWDs to serve in their governments to give them a sense of belonging.
‘There cannot be meaningful development without an inclusive government that recognise the contributions of women, youths and PWDs’, she added.
‘The society will benefit immensely if more women and PWDs are given the opportunity to serve in different capacities in various government ministries, departments and agencies’.
Development Diaries calls on President Tinubu and all state governors to make the inclusion and participation of citizens with disabilities in governance and development programmes a priority.
We also call on the states that have yet to domesticate the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act – Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Imo, Ogun, Osun, Katsina, Kebbi, Gombe, Rivers, Taraba, and Yobe – to do so immediately. For states that have already domesticated the law, we call on them to ensure its proper enforcement.
