By Victor Ayeni
The Nigeria Association of the Blind has called on Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Lagos State to promote inclusion in their public procurement processes which will benefit People With Disabilities.
A representative of NAB, Dr Adebukola Adebayo, made the call on Tuesday during a capacity-building workshop organised for MDAs by the association in partnership with the Centre for Inclusive Development in Alausa, Ikeja.
He said, “The NAB has received support from Disability Rights Funds to focus on issues around public procurement processes in Lagos and Plateau States because both states have comprehensive disability laws, frameworks, and strategies for implementing disability-inclusive public procurement in line with the Nigeria Disability Act of 2018 and the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
“We want to ensure that PWDs through the state MDAs have access to transport, education, social protection, and health. Citizens also need to be sensitised to do away with negative socio-cultural beliefs about PWDs which prevent them from being patronised by people even when they are economically empowered.”
The General Manager of the Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs, Mr Dare Ogundairo, who was represented at the event by the Head of Department of Social Development and Integration, Mr Kelani Akeem, noted that there is still a much need for improvement in social inclusion for PWDs.
“As an agency, we have done much to provide economic support but regarding the social support angle, we still need to channel more efforts towards it because we are not yet where we are supposed to be and there are still certain factors that mitigate against PWDs in Lagos State,” he said.