Dr. Adebukola Adebayo, the Chairman & Chief Consultant Inclusive Development Consults has called on all local government councils to commit between 10-15% of their budgets towards accelerating disability inclusion in their basic services.
Adebayo made the call in a statement made available to Inclusive News Network on Saturday.
He said, “one of the key challenges faced by persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria is their poor access to basic social services especially within their immediate localities.
He lamented that “PWDs usually go through very torturous pains of traveling very long distances to look for, and access basic services like education, health, rehabilitation, etc; even as public transport systems largely remain inaccessible to them.
“The absence of locally accessible services is responsible for the deepening of poverty levels among PWDs as well as the increase of disability prevalence in Nigeria.
“This situation is worsened by the very low sensitivity of local government councils to persons with disabilities and their issues.
“At the moment, no local government in Nigeria has a legal or policy framework on disability. Credible evidences also suggests that inadequate financial, material, technical, human and other resources makes it difficult for local government councils to provide for, and meet the needs of PWDs within their jurisdiction. As such, persons with disabilities are not usually included in the services provided by local government councils.”
Adebayo noted that the Judgement of Nigeria’s supreme Court granting financial autonomy to local government councils could serve as great opportunity for strengthening disability inclusion specifically at the level of local government, and largely across the country.
“Financial autonomy of local government councils in Nigeria will contribute meaningfully to strengthening of disability inclusion across all sectors at the local level.”
Adebayo listed the services that must be boosted by local councils to include the “Adoption of the Local Government Disability Framework which we developed in collaboration with Hope Inspired Foundation for Women and Youth with Disabilities (HIFWYD) and Disability Rights Fund (DRF) in 2023, and which was submitted to the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).
“Setting-up a dedicated Office for Disability Affairs; Setting-up the process of collection and management of disability database; Provision of assistive technologies and materials to PWDs; Allocation of 5% employment quota to qualified PWDs.
“Allocation of 10-15% quota of social and economic empowerment benefits to PWDs; and Commencement of Disability Audits of essential services including primary health care, basic education and public buildings and infrastructure.”