In Nigeria, condition of the physically challenged attracts little or
no attention. As a result of this, their rights are often violated,
excluded and relegated in planning and national development. Without a
doubt, physically challenged folks need care, love, protection and
special infrastructural provisions to survive in a challenging
environment like ours. Unfortunately, in Nigeria they are largely
unprotected and exposed to abuse, discrimination, ignored, stigmatized
and exploited by families and society. In most cases, family members
see them as shameful creatures. Consequently, most of them often
resign to a life of despondency.
It is, however, quite pleasant to note that that the Lagos State
government is constantly stepping up on its care and support for the
physically challenged in the state. Recently, the state government
doled out Entrepreneur Empowerment Fund and assorted assistive devices
to people living with disability. At the event, which took place at
the LTV Blue Roof, Agidingbi, Ikeja, no fewer than one thousand
physically challenged benefitted from the exercise while numerous
others were provided with assistive devices.
Additionally, various bodies such as Joint Association of Persons
Living with Disabilities, National Association of Persons with
Physical Disability (Lagos Chapter), Lagos State Association of the
Deaf, National Association of the Blind, Association of Parents of
Children Living with Intellectual Disability, Spinal Cord Injuries
Association of Nigeria (NSCIAN), Lagos Chapter, The Dwarf Association
of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter and Lagos State Albinism Society
received financial grants ranging from two million naira (N2,000,000)
to five hundred thousand (N500,000).
The latest effort of the state government is an integral part of its
strategic plans to provide the much needed support and enabling
environment for the physically challenged in the state. It will be
recalled that, in order to passionately and holistically address the
plight of the physically challenged in the society, the Lagos State
Special People’s Law was passed in June 2011. The Law seeks to uphold
the rights of all persons living with any form of disability in Lagos
State by safeguarding them against all forms of discrimination and
giving them equal rights and opportunities. Equally, the passage of
the law gave birth to the establishment of The Lagos State Office for
Disability Affairs (LASODA). The first governing board was inaugurated
on 9th July, 2012 and charged with implementing the law.
Since the inception of LASODA, the agency has been protecting the
rights and privileges of persons with disabilities which include
implementing the State’s Special People’s Law which compels employers
of up to 100 personnel to reserve at least one percent of the
workforce for persons with disabilities. Also, it has become a crime
in the state to discriminate against any person with disability
because of his physical challenge. The state also provides rights of
children with disability; right to education; right to healthcare
services; right to freedom of communication; right to public
transport; right to drive and reservation at parking lots.
Other rights include provision of facilities at public buildings;
right to legal aid; rights of tenants with disability; public
functions; rights under emergency situations; right to first
consideration in queues; right to 5% of accommodation reservation
consideration and rights to social security among others. In order to
effectively scale down the scope of its activities to the grassroots,
the state government has decentralized LASODA and absolved 200
physically challenged persons to manage their affairs in all the Local
Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) in the
state.
To further reinforce its commitment towards the physically challenged,
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and LAGBUS operators have been mandated by the
state government to offer them free ride across all routes in the
state. This is to ensure that they don’t have to pass through several
complicated hassles before boarding a bus to their respective routes.
As part of the deal, most of the newly introduced BRT busses have
essential facilities for the physically challenged.
In order to further strengthen the new resolve of the state government
to make life more pleasant to the physically challenged in the state,
on 29th May, 2016; Governor Akinwunmi Ambode launched the N500million
Disability Trust Fund. A major goal of the Fund is to aid people
living with disabilities in the state realise their dreams and
maximize their potentials in order to live a more meaningful life.
This is in realization of the fact that lots of them possess requisite
qualification, experience and character but are just outrightly being
marginalized in the scheme of things. The creation of the Fund
reflects the State Government’s interpretation of social environment
and devotion to social responsibility as well as a major shift from
charity as the mode of addressing disability. It should be stressed
that the Fund is strictly meant for the provision of requisite
infrastructure that would enhance welfare of the physically
challenged.
To further boost this renewed effort towards making life more
meaningful for People Living with Disability, the state government has
urged corporate organizations and well meaning individuals to come up
with fresh strategies that could reasonably enhance the standard of
living of the physically challenged.
While commending the Lagos State government for its concerted efforts
at transforming the lives of the physically challenged in the state,
it is important to emphasize that as a nation and a people and for
obvious reason, we need to impact more meaningfully on the lives of
these special people. We need to take a cue from what a nation like
America has achieved with its Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA.
Thanks to the Act in USA, transportation, public facilities and many
services in the United States are more accessible to the physically
challenged in the country.
With ADA, many city buses and trains have lifts or ramps for
wheelchairs, priority seating signs, handrails, slip-resistant
flooring, and information stamped in Braille. Emergency call centers
are equipped with telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDDs), and
federally funded public service announcements have closed captioning.
Most importantly, ADA prohibits discrimination against people with
disabilities in job recruitment, hiring, promotions, training or pay.
ADA’s provisions have enabled many people to live independently,
despite any physical or mental disability, and have helped protect
their rights.
Consequently, for us in Nigeria, the overall emphasis should be on
more inclusion of the physically challenged within the larger society.
We need to make them have a sense of wider acceptance in the society
by supporting them as much as we could. We need to treat them as our
fellow compatriots. It is only in doing this that we can make them
walk through life with a smile and renewed hope.
Ogunbiyi is of the Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy,
Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos
