Group Seeks Establishment Of Disability Desk In Nation’s Airports

By Ahmed Ubandoma

Dr Chike Okogwu, founder, Centre for Ability Rehabilitation and Empowerment (CARE), an NGO, has appealed to the Federal Government to establish disability service desk in all domestic and International Airports.

Okogwu said the idea was to assist as well as check cases of discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

He said this on Wednesday, while handing over some assistive devices and operational guidelines of Aviation accessibility project for PWDs, to the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD), in Abuja.

He said the project which was initiated by CARE in collaboration with OXFAM initiative, was designed to support PWDs to get easy access to airports facilities across the country.

According to him, we have successfully completed a disability service desk at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja to provide all the disability needs when travelling by air.

Okogwu, however, said the group could not sustain the project, hence the need for the commission to take over and ensure its sustainability.

”Our aim was to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of air travellers within the disability communities because the facility we erected at the airport include installation of ambi lifts and stair climbing for PWDs.

”Others are wheelchairs, umbrella for Persons with Albinism, Manual Waiting wheelchair, all enabling better mobility for Persons with Disabilities.

”We also provided sign language for the deaf,” he said.

Okogwu expressed the need for the federal government to increase the budgetary allocation of NCPWD to one trillion naira (N1 trillion) as against the current allocation of one billion naira (N1 billion).

According to him, this will help the commission to deliver on its mandate of attending to over 30 million persons with disabilities which constituted 15 per cent of Nigeria’s population.

Responding, the NCPWD Boss, Mr James Lalu, assured the visitors of federal government’s readiness to take-over the project with a view to providing relief to PWDs while travelling by air.

Lalu also expressed commitment to deploy manpower that would ensure the sustainability of the project.

He also promised that the commission would deploy at least three of its personnel in each of the airports across the country to provide essential services to PWDs.

He appealed to the visitors to assist in training his staff to administer the project effectively.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru