Nigerian PWDs and the Opportunity to Finally Breathe

Nigerian PWDs and the Opportunity to Finally Breathe

By Nafisat Bello

It is quite unfortunate that Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) are more likely to experience extreme poverty in Nigeria than those without any form of disability. While there is no clear estimation of the number of people with disabilities in Nigeria, the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey revealed that an estimated 7% of household members above the age of five, as well as 9% of those aged from 60 and above experience some level of difficulty in at least one functional domain, either seeing, hearing, communication, cognition, walking, or self-care.

Similarly, 1% can either have a lot of difficulty or cannot function at all in any of the domains. However, in 2019, the World Bank put Nigeria’s population at 197 million with one of the largest youth demographics in the world.

While the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that there are 25 million PWDs in Nigeria with up to 3 million of them so severely afflicted that they are unable to independently function physically or socially.

In 2013, the Nigerian National Assembly gave an estimated figure of 20 million people living with disability which optimistically falls below the world estimate that shows 15% of the global population is living with disability. Also, in the recent findings, it has been recorded that there are about 31 million people with disabilities in Nigeria

It’s disheartening that the PWDs are at a heightened vulnerability of poverty, legal and economic inequalities, gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, exclusion from health care and human rights violations, all of which increase their risk of contracting HIV. Over the years especially in the western Africa, women and girls living with disabilities have fallen prey to harmful myths such as virgin rape and other sexual vices.

Young people living with disabilities are also at greater risk. Because of the expectation that they are not sexually active, young people living with disabilities are often omitted in discussions about comprehensive sexuality education and excluded from sexual and reproductive health services.

Meanwhile, people living with disabilities have the same right to health, education, and various forms of business as everyone else. But In spite of their large numbers, persons with disabilities are commonly stigmatised and isolated resulting in dire economic hardship.

It is within this context that the government of Nigeria, both at the state and federal level, has been introducing measures to address the needs of the PWDs. If we can recall, one significant step came in January 2019 with the ratification of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018, though its implementation is yet to materialise.

And it is already on record that nine states in the Federation have enacted disability laws to safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities, though the laws are at varying degrees of implementation.

However, in a recent development, as part of the significant steps to address the issue, the Federal Government has dedicated 10 percent of its various social intervention programmes to PWDs. Dr Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, disclosed this in Abuja while flagging off various programmes sponsored by the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) on the welfare of PWDs.

“Mr President has instructed that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation should dedicate 10 per cent of all humanitarian and poverty alleviation interventions to persons with disabilities.

“Already, we are into conditional cash transfers for 15 million households; out of this figure, 10 per cent is reserved for the disability community. So, we are happy and very proud of the disability commission for pushing on all fronts to ensure that the Renewed Hope Agenda is achieved.

“The FG has made available provision of Point of Sale (POS) machines to the PWDs and the donation of N100, 000 each to the beneficiary of the POS holders to kick start the business.

“We are providing POS machines to persons with disability across Nigeria so that they can be the last-mile distributors of the funds to people living in villages and hard-to-reach areas. We have also provided an amount of N100, 000 capital for them as well, she said.

The Minister added that as a means of assisting the physically challenged students in the tertiary institutions, N130, 000 has been made available for each of them as scholarship.

“Beyond this, we have also been able to bring officials of the Corporate Affairs Commission here to carry out proper registration of their businesses. About N20 million has been released for that purpose.

We are also having several other interventions, like giving out grants to associations that deal with disabilities.

“Rather than begging, the PWDs will be running businesses that will empower them, their society, and everyone around them,” she said.

Meanwhile, on October 19, 2023, President Bola Tinubu took his passion for people in that constituency further by signing an instrument to promote the rights of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria.

A Timely Appointment

In a masterstroke that will elevate the standard of PWDs in the country and also make them feel part of governance, President Tinubu appointed Mohammed Isa to serve as his Senior Special Assistant on Disability Matters.

The President apparently did this in deference to the agitation of PWD activists and other human rights advocates for disadvantaged people who are competent and qualified to be included in the decision-making process.

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, said the appointment is part of the president’s “determination to ensure that every segment of society is sufficiently catered for within the ambit of the Renewed Hope Agenda of his administration”.

Isa is no doubt a square peg in a square hole. He is a distinguished champion of persons with disabilities with over a decade of experience in local and international advocacy.

Isa is a graduate of Public Administration with honours from the University of Maiduguri where he also earned a Masters in Public Administration in 2017.

“The President tasks the new appointee to proactively create avenues of opportunity for inclusion through the inculcation of PWD requirements and perspectives in the policies and programmes of all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government.”

The President has also asked his new appointee to work closely with “sub-national authorities to build a national consensus on PWD-friendly policy and environmental conditions in collaboration with the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD),” the presidential spokesman said.

A Way Forward

President Tinubu no doubt deserves commendation for the welfare and empowerment programmes he has instituted for the PWDs and also the appointment of one of them as his SSA. But other challenges still subsist.

The passing of the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act is indeed commendable and a step in the right direction. However, we know that without enforcement, this Act will remain a paper tiger, just like its predecessor, the Disability Act of 1993.

The pitfalls that engulfed the previous efforts at disability legislation should be avoided at all cost so that we can harness the prospects of this laudable Act. The government should therefore ensure a speedy deployment of the Act and the first step to quickly inaugurate the key officers of the National Disability Commission who will thereafter propel the full implementation of that Act.

And on the final note, both the government and stakeholders should mount sustained campaigns for mass awareness of the rights adopted in the Act, for the benefit of the persons living with disabilities and the nation.

Everyone should be made aware of their duties and obligations under the Act whilst the disabled should be informed of the existence of the law and how to seek redress in the event of a breach.

This campaign would be more effective if the Ministry of Information, the National Orientation Agency, conventional media outfits, social media influencers and traditional institutions can be co-opted to debunk the negative perceptions and prejudices surrounding disability and the disabled.