Group seeks domestication of Disability Act
Group seeks domestication of Disability Act
A group, Northern Nigeria Disability Forum (NNDF), has urged northern state governors who have yet to domesticate Disability Act to do so.
National Chairman of the forum, Mr Suleiman Yerima, stated this during a meeting with some disability groups in Kano on Thursday.
Yerima also called on the governors to consider establishing a Disability Commission in their respective states.
“It has become imperative, given the numerous benefits of such domestication to protect the rights of persons with disability and the need to ensure inclusiveness.
“One of the proofs of functional democracy is the protection of the rights of all citizens toward ensuring a better society free of discrimination and marginalisation.
“With this huge population, it is imperative to consider legislation that will protect the rights, dignity and respect of persons with disabilities,” he said.
Yerima called on employers of labour to be more sensitive to the moral obligations of PWDs.
“Everyone suffers one form of disability or the other in one’s lifetime; therefore, that empathic understanding is required from everyone. There is ability in disability; therefore no one should be left behind,” he said.
The national chairman urged governments at all levels to ensure that more PWDs were gainfully employed.
He also called for inclusion of the forum’s members in the palliative distribution committee by the federal and state governments.
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While congratulating Nigerians on the country’s 64th independence, Yerima emphasised the importance of ensuring that every citizen, regardless of his/her condition, was allowed to be part of the country’s development journey.
Some of the forum’s members, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), called for abolition of discriminatory policies in the employment of PWDs.
VMT NEWS reports that on Jan. 23, 2019, former President Muhammudu Buhari signed into law the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, with 16 states yet to domesticate it.
The states include: Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Imo, Ogun, Osun, Katsina, Kebbi, Gombe, Rivers, Taraba, and Yobe.
