Nigerian Deaf Community Holds Press Conference In Abuja To Address Issues As They Affect Deaf In Nigeria
The Albino Foundation Public Notice
On Wednesday 2nd June, 2021 in Nigeria National Association for the Deaf held a press conference to address issues affecting the deaf communities in Nigeria. At the press conference in NNAD Headquarters, Abuja were members of the deaf community who lend their voices to speak on matters affecting them. Those in attendance include:
- Dr. Chidi Olujie NNAD President
- Haruna M. Tsafe NNAD Vice President
- Chief Zubairu Dugu NNAD BOT Chairman
- Lawrence Idemudia Sec. BOT & Rep of Executive Secretary (Nat. Commission for Persons with Disabilities)
- Hajiya Amina Ahmed NNAD Women Leader
- Segun Aluko member NMAD & Deaf in diaspora
- Comrade Labaran Bala NNAD NPRO
- Bello Bala North Central Zonal Co-coordinator JONAPWD
- Omoregie Ephraim Chairman, Abuja Association for the Deaf
The National President of Nigerian National Association for the Deaf Dr. Chidi Topaz Olujie said
“DISCRIMINATION BY LOCAL AIRLINE OPERATORS
The recent discriminating activities inflicted on the Deaf persons in Nigeria by domestic Airline personnel, which is Ibom Air, are alarming and highly discriminatory. The Airline operator claimed it was in line with Civil Aviation Regulations.
the Ministry of Aviation, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the Federal Airport Authority, and other federal regulatory agencies in the aviation industry are requested to investigate and prosecute the discriminatory aviation policies. These policies encourage Airline operators to perpetuate these unacceptable acts against members of our community. Preventing the Deaf who paid for their flight tickets with their hard-earned money from boarding the flight is not only wrong, it is condemnable. The current aviation policies mandates persons with disability to have non-disability persons accompany them on a trip, without specifying who will pay for such person(s). These acts of discrimination victimized the Deaf community in Nigeria, and WE ASK that IT MUST STOP HENCEFORTH.
SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS AND CAPTIONING
The directive given by the Hon. Minister of Information to all media outlets in implementing access to communication to Deaf persons through Sign Language is very commendable and worth of appreciation, thus the need to push it to full implementation through and advocacy machine.
We need Sign Language Interpretations and captions on government and private television stations and government functions/event for the Deaf persons thoroughly include Deaf people. Of recent, we read a misleading news of the two (2) millions dollars awarded to the National Commission for Person with Disabilities by the United State Embassy, Nigeria office through a team of delegations headed by the Commission’s part time chairman for the purpose of recognizing, legislation and nationalizing Sign language through education but no single Deaf person was among them at the meeting. There is need to address this non inclusive news reporting format by the mainstream media with all seriousness. It is about our language and we cannot keep quite leaving others deciding things for us. Nothing for us without us fully involved.
THE 2021 NATIONAL CENSUS: THE NEED FOR DISAGGREGATED DATA FOR THE DEAF, OTHER PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, AND FULL PARTICIPATION OF OUR MEMBERS
With over 9 million members all over the country, the need for the disaggregated data is critical to understanding the deprivations and conditions of our community’s members. Most development organizations,–National and International—have been sidelining us for decades from development programs and policies due to the lack of verifiable data of the Deaf Community.
The government should note that the National Population Commission’s preparatory exercise with the initial Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) do not consider Deaf, Hard-of-hearing, and Deafblind people in the areas they live in Nigeria. For decades, we have been excluded from national censuses. This practice cannot be allowed to continue in the light of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that call on all governments in the world to leave no one behind in development policies and programs.
Given the above background and as a matter of strategic national and international importance, the NNAD’s Executives are calling on the National Population Commission (NPC) to include, collect, analyze, and report on data disaggregated by various categories of disabilities. Examples of disability categories include Deaf/Deafblind/Hard-of-hearing, physical challenged, albino, intellectual disability, autism, e.t.c in the national census. We also request that the NPC include our Association’s members and other disability groups in the upcoming federal census exercise to ensure full inclusion and participation. NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US FULLY INVOLVED.
EMPLOYMENT OF OUR MEMBERS INTO FEDERAL TEACHERS’ SCHEME, FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICES
The Federal Teachers Scheme has not employed any Deaf person in its workforce, while that of the Federal Civil Services was since 2016. Again, no inclusion of our members since the commencement of the National Identity Management System (NIMS) though NIMS asked us to submit a list of our qualified members in 2019. We call on the government to a top priority to employing Deaf Nigerians in the workforce.“
HAJIYA AMINA AHMED – NNAD WOMEN LEADER said
“I want to use this medium to address an issue that affect Deaf Women in Nigeria. I wish to appreciate the FCT administration for providing sign language interpreters for our member in hospitals in Abuja. When any deaf person visits government hospitals in Abuja, there are sign language interpreters available to bridge the communication gap between hospital personnel and the deaf.
We hereby solicited that other states of the federation can take a que from the FCT and provide interpreters in medical centres across the country. The need for sign language interpreters cannot be over emphasized, as they are the only means for us to communicate seamlessly with hospital personnel.
In many cases, when deaf visit hospitals for medical reasons they are neglected and discriminated against. If we are attended to at all, we are usually attended to last on line which is against the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Law sign by President Buhari. A lot of times, we are not attended to.”
CHIEF ZUBAIRU DUGU – NNAD BOT CHAIRMAN said
“The problem we have in Nigeria on discrimination of us persons with disabilities is not the law but the implementation. All political parties in Nigeria have policies aimed at improving the plight of Persons with Disabilities, for example the need for employment, it has always been agreed at least 2% of employment should be reserved for us Persons with disabilities, but the problem is implementation by those subordinate on desk to ensure implementation. They always ignore and marginalize against us.
Please we are pleading that all Nigerians , especially the media to join forces with us in advocacy to fight against Persons with disabilities.”
