Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital city is the current destination spot for not only the average man but as well as an increasingly staggering number of people with disabilities. A whole lot of different persons with different exceptionalities have found living and working in Abuja alluring, and have been effectively making the city a home and a hub of familial settlement that many of us cannot begin to imagine.
The incredibility comes as, despite the perceived high cost of living and commercial mobility in the capital, the choice of people with a disability to situate and work in Abuja is as real as the air we breathe in. But like capital cities around the world, including Washington D.C., and London, the cost of living may just be as conventional and sensible as it is in centers of commerce and industry- as found in such places as New York City and Lagos, Nigeria.
Here are 6 Reasons persons, in particular, people with disabilities have chosen to make Abuja their home against the exceptional sophistication and relative living cost of the federal capital.
1. TO START A NEW LIFE: At some point in our lives, we all have to grapple with a decision to begin life over- to try a new thing and do a new thing. People with disabilities aren’t famous to be the overly outdoors ones- a social stereotype that has, fortunately, awaken a sense of adventure in this particular population group. The society is now seeing an unprecedented mobility of individuals with disabilities across fairly long distant kilometers.
2. TO BUILD A NETWORK OF FRIENDS AND RELATIONSHIPS: Like the average Nigerian, people with disabilities can found to be tremendously advantageous the act of leveraging relationships and alliances for personal and selfless developments. Thanks to the incredible diversity and interloping locale of the capital city (It’s in the middle of the Federation), we are now seeing people with disabilities challenge societal label that questions their social skills and relationship standing. Abuja, Nigeria is a place to make a large chunk of friends and build mutually-benefitting relationships that truly work.
3. TO MAKE THEIR VOICES AND AGITATIONS HEARD: For being the epicenter of political activities, Abuja is the city to fight for the rights of the marginalized and the stigmatized. The clamoring voices and agitations of special needs persons are collated and siphoned through a special conduit that provides an opportunity for harmony and unanimity of messages for their active consideration by policymakers.
4. FOR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL REASONS: If you are a policy advocate or a volunteer at a civil society- ventures that a lot of people with a disabilities are into. Abuja is the right spot for you to situate. Like a hot house, you get to make effective and efficient utilization of its resources, as well as its sophistication that is essential for innovation and survival in a dramatically changing global environment.
5. THINGS THAT THE CITY OFFERS: With its sprawling edifices and 24/7 electricity even in some of the most “underdeveloped” locales, Abuja boasts as one of the top cities with the most sophisticated 21st century-style amenities and public utilities that are ideal for commerce and industrialization, innovation and entrepreneurship as well as for personal living and private exploits.
The allure of a big city may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but living and working in Abuja comes with an excellent number of merits for persons with special needs in particular. Beyond its disability-friendliness, Abuja is the right city for the millennial- the free-thinking and forward-thinking man- on a wheelchair who desires to touch lives, the person with a hearing impairment who wants to change a societal misconception, and the individual with a mental retardation who believes that the government has a significant role to play in instituting an enabling environment that’s accommodating and inclusive for all persons regardless of their disabilities. Abuja has all the tools that are necessary for special needs persons to not only live a life of dignity and respect, but tools that provide opportunities for social networking, economic prospects, self-discovery and upward mobility.
With a moderate cost of living- like other conventional cities like Lagos and Port Harcourt, Abuja is the right site to be now for folks with exceptionalities.