The Centre for Infrastructural and Technological Advancement for the Blind (CITAB) has called on the Lagos State Government to halt what it described as a persistent pattern of neglect toward accessibility in public infrastructure, urging that the ongoing Lekki-Ajah road rehabilitation be transformed into a model of true inclusion.
This appeal was contained in a press statement issued on Friday in Lagos and signed by CITAB’s Executive Chairman, Jolomi George Fenemigho. He expressed concern that the needs of blind persons and the wider disability community continue to be overlooked in major public projects across the state.
Fenemigho noted that despite the legal obligations imposed by the Lagos State Special People’s Law of 2011—whose five-year transitional period expired years ago—the state government has failed to prioritise mandatory accessibility features. “The Lagos State Government has had ample time and legal obligation to make public spaces and buildings accessible to all,” he said. “This persistent foot-dragging keeps persons with disabilities trapped on the sidelines of society.”
He described the Lekki-Ajah corridor rehabilitation as the latest example where persons with disabilities are asked to “wait a little longer” for facilities already guaranteed under the law. CITAB demanded immediate implementation of key accessibility measures, including permanent, standardised tactile paving on sidewalks, bus stops, and pedestrian crossings, as well as audible and vibro-tactile pedestrian signals at major intersections.
Fenemigho emphasized that these rights are neither favours nor handouts but legal entitlements provided under Sections 24(1) and 24(5) of the Special People’s Law. “To continue ignoring these provisions is to turn the spirit and letter of the law into nothing more than window dressing,” he added.
CITAB urged the Lagos State Government to take responsibility and deliver inclusive infrastructure as a matter of urgency and principle. The organisation also called on disability rights groups, advocates, and the general public to hold the government accountable, insisting that it is time to move beyond rhetoric and build the inclusive city that justice and the law demand.
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