Project Enable Africa seeks unified efforts towards implementation of Disabilities Act

Founder and Executive Director of Project Enable Africa, Olusola Owonikoko, has tasked stakeholders on unified efforts towards implementation of the Persons With Disabilities Prohibition Act.

He made the call during the Disability Inclusion and Leadership, (DIAL) awards and dialogue at the weekend in Abuja.

He pointed out that it took Nigeria 18 years to pass the bill into law, which should not have been so, owing to the importance of the law in uplifting the welfare and living of PWDs hence, efforts must be made to prevent a recurrence.

“It’s easy to just believe that we have an Act and just move on but let’s not forget that if we don’t document history and pay attention to it, we will repeat it.

“There are still so many bills and Acts around disability that will be passed. We need to understand how those ones will not take 18 years because Nigeria’s Disability Act took 18 years of advocacy and struggle.

Owonikoko stated that as he joins the rest of the world to celebrate the International of Persons with Disability, it is important to know that the full implementation of the Act is essential for the promotion of disability rights and social inclusion for persons with disability.

He notes that the DIAL awards aims to “celebrate the tenacity and resilience of persons with disability in Nigeria, showcase a documentary we have worked on in partnership with the Columbia University in New York which is really about documenting the processes that led to the Nigerian Disability Act and to recognise and appreciate those who made the bill happened.

“A number of persons with disabilities struggled in a movement, advocated, spent their money and made strategic moves went above and beyond to ensure that we get to a place where we now have the disability Act.

“What went wrong, what should have happened, what should have been done better are the conversations we will be having and showcase through the documentary so that subsequently we can get things done faster for the community and everybody can see the struggles, the challenges, the things that persons with disability face through the documentary.”

According to him, “Post COVID has been tough on everybody but even tougher for persons with disability. Holding forth, trying to make ends meet, driving economic activities and even running their families requires some sort of commendation and we will award them with the 2023 disability, inclusion and leadership award recognition of their efforts.”

Speaking on the importance of the award to pioneers of the struggle that birthed the Act, Executive Director, Global Hope and Justice, Ihekwoaba Paul, said the DIAL awards is a call for all to continue to strive for the betterment of humanity irrespective of where they find themselves.

On the long battle towards the realisation of the Act, Paul said: “It has been a very tough fight. Some of us have been pioneers since the return of democracy, I must say. Yes we are not where we want to be, but we are no longer where we were yesterday.

“We must give credence to the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari because it was under his administration that he found the wisdom to sign that bill into an Act. It was a bill that lingered in the National Assembly all through but under the leadership of the then Senate President, Saraki, the bill passed and President Buhari signed it into law.

“It didn’t just stop there, we give more thanks to President Buhari because he gave teeth to that Act by establishing the commission and today we have the National Commission for Persons with Disability headed by Honourable James Lalu and for the very first time, the president was able to create the office of Senior Special Assistant on Disability.

“There are tangible and intangible achievements so far through effort of the commission and the activities of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), have sustained that advocacy that makes disability issues visible,” he said.

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