The senior special assistant to the president on special needs and equal opportunities, Mohammed Abba-Isa, has said that President Bola Tinubu is expected to launch the presidential committee for accessibility this third quarter.
Abba-Isa said that the public offices not accessible to people with disabilities will be sealed.
The committee, according to him, has been saddled with the responsibility of implementing the country’s disability Act.
Abba-Isa said Ministries, Departments, and Agencies that fail to restructure to accommodate easy accessibility for people with disability will be sealed as part of the implementation policy of disability inclusion.
The presidential aide noted that the grace period given to the offices had expired.
He spoke in Abuja at the opening of a two-day maiden edition of the meeting of ministers in charge of disability inclusion in West Africa. The meeting is meant to adopt the region’s action plan for the inclusion of disabilities.
He said: “Mr. President has mandated my office to make sure I implement the regional action plan.
“We are going to launch an accessibility committee. We are going to engage with all the MDAs.
“We are going to launch a presidential taskforce all because if you look at the moratorium or grace period given to all these buildings to modify or adjust has passed, the five-year moratorium period.
“So we are now in the implementation stage and Mr President has given us the mandate.
“All these offices that did not comply we are going to seal them because we are at the implementation stage.”
He stressed that Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.
He added: “So we are leasing with the Ministry of Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation, other agencies, and the National Commission for Persons with Disability to set up the committee and Mr President will soon launch the committee.”
He said the committee is going to checkmate all the charades against accessibility of public buildings by people with disabilities.
He however said it is going to be a gradual process since the Act was recently signed into law.
Citing the case of United States, Abba-Isa said despite 35 years of existence of the law, there are still some buildings that are not accessibile for people with disability.