A Coalition of Disability Organisations (CODO) on Tuesday 13th June, 2023, brought together Stakeholders to validate the Preliminary Draft Report of the Joint Stakeholders’ Submission to the United Nation Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (fourth Cycle) on the implementation of the recommendations relating to rights of persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
The convener, CODO and Executive Director of Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), Mr. David Obinna Anyaele in his opening speech said that two years ago, they built the capacity of organizations on shadow reporting, organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) were led on approaches to engage Nigerian government on their commitments on disability to international communities.
At the meeting, we agreed that we will use the knowledge acquired to engage the government on the commitments to United Nation Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review.
He explained that United Nation Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review present an opportunity for Member State to share with the international community how they are implementing the rights of their citizens.
He informed that Nigeria has made several submissions and at the last submission, a lot of issues were raised regarding disability.
It is important to note that they will submit the next report based on recommendations raised in the previous report.
In order to ensure that we are not left behind, our own report became imperative in order to give alternative and comparative report on the state of Nigerian government responses to disability issues.
He also said that because of importance of the report, the group went round to gather data from organizations focusing on the response of Nigeria government to disability issues.
Mr Anyaele said that organizations who shared their views have now been called to look at the report together and agreed on what would be presented from the OPDs/CSOs standpoint.
The program was funded by Disability Rights Fund and implemented by Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), Hope Alive For Possibilities Initiative – HAPI and SCIAN under the auspices of Coalition Of Disability Organizations( COD0).
Barr. Theophilus Odaudu, DRF Program Officer, West Africa in his speech, said that it is impressive to see that Nigerian OPDs have begin to participate in international programs which will deepen their advocacy at all levels.
He urged Stakeholders present at the event to look critically on the report and make input that put Nigeria in the recommendations.
The sessions were facilitated by Folusho Adegalu, Faculty Of Law, University Of Pretoria, South Africa and discussions were focused on recommendations and constructive feedbacks which will be incorporated in the final report for further engagement with governments, international bodies and OPDs in ensuring that disability issues are prioritized in all government deliberations, activities and interventions. The report looked at Health, Violence against Women With Disabilities, Inclusive Education, Legislation and Implementation of Disability Act, Employment and Education of Women with disabilities.
The draft report validation was done by relevant stakeholders with representation from Ministries, departments and agencies such as NCPWD, NHRC, NAPTIP, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health; civil societies; organisations of persons with disabilities such DAI, HAPI, JONAPWD, AWWDI; and the media such as The Qualitative Magazine and NAN.
