The Executive Director of the Advocacy for Women with Disabilities Initiative (AWWDI), Mrs. Patience Ogolo Dickson, has called for the full integration of disability inclusion and gender equality into Nigeria’s disaster management and climate emergency policies.
Mrs. Dickson made the call during the Stakeholders’ Inception Workshop on the Review of the National Disaster Response Plan (NDRP) and the National Disaster Management Framework (NDMF), organised by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in collaboration with the World Bank. The engagement formed part of AWWDI’s ongoing project supported by the Disability Rights Fund (DRF).
The workshop brought together senior government officials, development partners, civil society organisations, Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), humanitarian actors, and disaster risk management experts to review Nigeria’s disaster management policies and ensure they are responsive to emerging climate and humanitarian challenges.
Speaking at the event, Mrs. Dickson stressed that while disasters affect everyone, women, girls, and persons with disabilities often bear a disproportionate burden because they are frequently excluded from disaster planning and emergency response systems.
She urged policymakers to move beyond viewing disability inclusion as a standalone issue and instead mainstream it across disaster preparedness, early warning systems, emergency response, evacuation, recovery, rehabilitation, and climate resilience planning.
According to her, the meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in policy formulation and implementation is critical to building disaster management systems that leave no one behind.
Mrs. Dickson also highlighted the increasing impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, noting that floods, displacement, food insecurity, and other climate-related emergencies continue to expose women and girls with disabilities to greater risks. She called for stronger collaboration among government institutions, development partners, and Organisations of Persons with Disabilities to address these challenges effectively.
Declaring the workshop open, the Director-General of NEMA, Mrs. Zubaida Umar, underscored the importance of reviewing Nigeria’s disaster management frameworks to address emerging risks, including climate change, insecurity, disease outbreaks, and urban emergencies.
Also speaking at the workshop were the Director of Planning, Research and Forecasting at NEMA, Dr. Godwin Tepikor, and the World Bank’s Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, Dr. Francis Nkoka. Both reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s disaster risk management system through sustained collaboration and stakeholder engagement.
The Disability Rights Fund’s Africa Programme Officer also attended the workshop, reiterating the organisation’s commitment to supporting inclusive policies that safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities.
During the technical sessions, AWWDI presented recommendations advocating accessible emergency communication, disability-disaggregated data, inclusive evacuation procedures, accessible shelters, and the institutionalisation of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities in disaster planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
Participants agreed that disability inclusion and gender responsiveness should be fully mainstreamed into the revised National Disaster Response Plan and National Disaster Management Framework. NEMA also pledged to incorporate stakeholders’ recommendations into the revised policy documents ahead of the validation process.
Through its Disability Rights Fund-supported project, AWWDI continues to advocate for national policies that advance disability rights, gender equality, climate resilience, and inclusive disaster risk management. Mrs. Dickson’s intervention at the workshop further reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to ensuring that the voices of women and girls with disabilities are reflected in national decision-making processes and that no one is left behind during emergencies and climate-related disasters.
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