The Joint National Association Of Persons With Disability (JONAPWD) on Wednesday staged a peaceful protest at the Osun governor’s office, demanding immediate domestication of the disability bill.
The protesters carried placards with different inscriptions such as; ”Show Commitments To Disability Rights,” “We Are Not Second Citizens In Our Country,” “We Have Equal Rights,” “Nothing About Us Without Us,” “Disability Inclusion is Essential To Good Governance,” “We Ask Osun State Government To Domesticate National Disability Acts, among others.
The Secretary of the group, Sunday Smith, explained that PWDs from different clusters, including the blinds and the physically challenged, staged the protest to appeal to the government to see to the plight of PWDs.
He explained that the protest was not to attack the government but to appeal for the domestication of the bill so that unemployment, education, social attention, and social discrimination will be aborted.
The former president of the group, Kehinde Onitiju, commended Governor Adegboyega Oyetola for his support for the PWDs in the state, urging the governor to crown his efforts by signing the bill.
Onitiju noted that President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered all the state governors to sign the disability bill into law, saying only Osun remains in the South West region of Nigeria.
The Head of Service, Dr Festus Oyebade, said the government of Oyetola is concerned about the affairs of PWDs, assuring that the bill will be domesticated very soon.