The Albino Foundation Public Notice
By Ruby Leo and Oliver Nweke
The federal government has reiterated its commitment to ensure better lifes for persons with disabilities, but called on all Nigerians to embrace the culture of attitudinal change if the nation is to achieve the desired inclusiveness being advocated for.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made this known while speaking at the FRCN annual lecture on Disability inclusion, themed, “ the imperative of disability inclusion in National Transformation organized in collaboration with The Albinism Foundation and its partners.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed emphasized that attitudinal change is the key to inclusiveness which according to him must be practiced by all stakeholders and not just the government.
He added that government has already put in place structures and policies geared towards alleviating the plight of persons with disabilities but stressed that real change comes from Nigerians changing their perceptions and attitudes towards persons with disability.
He said, “the federal government has put 100,000 persons with disabilities on conditional cash transfer, while 40,000 PWDs have been empowered, 10 persons with disabilities have been employed, all these were not obtainable before, we initiated this, we should be judged by the things we are doing, but of course there is room for improvement but all the tiers under the democratic dispensation must do their part to improve the lives of Nigerians.
Earlier the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu said the presidency had promised to sign the discrimination against persons with disability prohibition act which he did, and went further to establish the National Commission for Persons with Disability to implement and act.
“this government is the first to do this, no other government did it, and it is simply because President Muhmamadu Buhari is a man of his words and committed to improving the plight of persons with disabilities”.
Earlier the Director General of the Institute of National Transformation, Professor Vincent Anigbogu, the guest lecturer who was represented by Professor Emeka Aniagolu pointed out that Professor Anigbogu had identified four main component in his works, the systemic meaning of national transformation especially in relation to disability inclusion and the role of human capital development in National transformation.
He lamented that adding to the raw figures are the negative attitudes, misconceptions, prejudices and biases that persons with disabilities are confronted with in their respective lives.
His words, “Ignorance and prejudice is a disability, so we need to include such people to alleviate them of their misconception and mentalities. But how is disability inclusion in the context of national transformation to be achieved.
“We need a holistic approach, a multi prone strategy of public policy, legislation, sensitivity training, awareness and consciousness raising to assure that the rights and needs of persons with disabilities are not overlooked not only in the development agenda, but in other sectors”.
The speaker quoted WHO saying that there are approximately 1 billion people worldwide with one form of disability or the other, 80% live in developing nations such as Nigeria, in 2018, the WHO revealed that 29 million of Nigeria’s population are persons with disabilities.
The Founder and Convener of the Albinism Foundation, Mr Jakes Epelle explained that the discourse was simply to ensure that persons with disability are given their place and right in society be it in health, education, economic empowerment, accessibility, political participation or any sphere of life.
He added that it is important that government official, policy makers and decision makers are aware of the importance of disability inclusion as a development issue and enhance data collection on disability.
He pointed out that the event intends to awaken national consciousness to disability inclusion and the importance of creating a country that frowns at the isolation of persons with disabilities and all forms of exclusion.
