RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES TO ACCESS PUBLIC FACILITIES, GAIN ADVOCACY

DESIRE LORDSON

Rivers State Government has been called upon to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities to accessibility as stipulated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities in Article nine, is effectively upheld in the State.

The call was made by the Executive Director of a Non Governmental Organization, Faecare Foundation, Ambassador Ndifreke Andrew – Essien, on the disability Rights Initiative Project: Accessibility, DRIPA, in Rivers State.

Ambassador Ndifreke, also known as Freky Andrew-Essien, pointed that the Rights of Persons with disabilities, include accessibility to public buildings.

She maintained that accessibility in this regard, is a plus to societal development.

She said, “If you cannot enter a place, you cannot access and enjoy anything that is provided in that space, so it limits society’s development, it limits people’s productivity and restricts people with disability from participating.”

Ambassador Andrew – Essien said ensuring that the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is being preserved, requires deliberate steps in addressing the concerns of the vulnerable; “Rivers State needs to domesticate disability discrimination prohibition act, or enact a right – based disability Law.”

Ambassador Andrew – Essien added that Rivers State should do more to uphold the Rights of the Vulnerable in the State; “We need to establish a Disability Council in the State, we want to have as an active advisory role in Government, a Special Adviser on Disability Affairs to the Rivers State Government, not as a Favour, but as a functional office as in other States, to ensure that there is disability inclusion in Government Policies. “

Technical Assistant to DRIPA, Mrs. Jennifer Agbaji, while giving the Project’s Audit Report, decried the level of insensitivity on the accessibility of Persons with disabilities to public facilities, as observed in the cause of their finding; “All of the 35 facilities that was checked, only 10 had ramps, then out of that, we had 14 without ramps. The number without ramp, out weighed the number with ramps, which is really a cause for concern.”

Mrs. Agbaji who is also a Lawyer, also lamented the failure of having sign language instructors in Special Schools.

The forum had in attendance, Communities of Persons with disabilities, Civil Society Organisations, Government Parastatals, including the Director Medical Services, Rivers State Ministry of Health, Dr. Nwachukwu Vincent and the Media.