Activist lauds FG on inclusiveness for PWDs

By Lucy Ogalue

Dr Christopher Nwanoro, a disability rights activist, has lauded the Federal Government for its efforts to ensure inclusiveness for the Disability Community in Nigeria.

Nwanoro, also the President, National Disability Empowerment Forum (NADEF), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) stated this when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the federal government had taken concrete steps toward ensuring that the Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) were carried along in its various programmes.

“I must commend the federal government for signing the Violence Against Persons Act and the Disability Commission Act.

“Some states have also signed the Disability Rights Act, which is a right step in the right direction,” he said.

Nwanoro, a candidate for the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), said that there were much still needed to be done to ensure inclusiveness for the Disability Community.

He said that the federal government had made some efforts to create the atmosphere for the PWDs to participate in the electoral processes.

“The government has made efforts to ensure that the PWDs can participate actively in the electoral processes but lack of funding and the the attitudes of some Nigerians have been the major challenge.

“Some Nigerians still don’t believe that the PWDs can participate actively in the electoral processes, win election and occupy political offices, this is a big challenge.

“Some times even women groups take advantage of the PWDs, when it comes to manipulation to achieve their aim.

“But the PWDs are more vulnerable than women and should not be categorised alongside the women,” he said.

Nwanoro added:“ In most cases, I have attended some international programmes where we meet with women and they use PWDs to get what they wanted.

“They will merge it up – affirmative action including women and people with disabilities but when the disabilities come, women take it all.

“So, when we are talking about vulnerability, we are more vulnerable than any other group.

“So we are fighting, trying, talking and reaching out to the government, parliarment and to individuals, organisations and the international community that persons with disabilities should be carried along because they have something to offer.” (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Ali Baba Inuwa