By Fortune Oyem
Some persons with Disabilities have appealed to the Edo State Government and other relevant stakeholders to address challenges facing them.
They stated this in an interview with Radio Nigeria while commenting on the challenges they face daily.
One of them, Ms Ann Ojugo, a wheelchair User and a Benin City , based resident, decried that despite the signing of the disability Bill into law since 2022 by the immediate past Governor of Edo state, Mr Godwin Obaseki , most persons with disabilities in the state still faces many challenges including exclusion.
“nobody recognize people with disabilities at all, people don’t even know if we live, infact they see us as a second class citizens, nobody want to have anything to do with people with disabilities, both at the community level in the society and at home, the home is worse off, as it’s ought to be a place were persons with persons with disabilities are taken care of, but unfortunately it’s not like that.
She explained that the challenges are enormous.
“The challenges ranges from discrimination, non access to medical facilities because there are no interpreters in the hospitals to interpret for the hearing impaired that’s the deaf. Persons with disabilities can not go to school as I speak with you now we don’t have special schools in Benin City for children with disabilities , so they are virtually left out of education, it’s only few of them that can afford private schools, that take there Children to this private schools. Buildings are not accessible for persons with disabilities, both public buildings and private buildings . Public Buildings, Banks, workplace are not accessible for persons with disabilities. As a citizen in Edo State, I can’t dress up myself and say am going to Government House, even in the SSG office is not accessible for me except he has to come down to meet me down stairs, so this are some of the challenges.
Ms Ojugu, who is also the Chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Edo chapter, added that the challenges were more for women with Disabilities
“For women with disabilities, the case is times two. We suffer alot of sexual harassment from men and exclusion is one of the things we face in the society. It ranges from abandonment, discrimination, lack of Jobs, but we are hoping that now that they have set up a commission for persons with disabilities, we hope that the commission will do something”
Also Commenting , a virtually impaired and Executive Director of the Network for the Advancement of People with Visible Disabilities (NAPVID), Barrister Melody Omosha decried lack of employment opportunities for persons living with disabilities in Edo state and faulted the Edo state Disability law.
” there’s so much exclusion when it comes to involvement of Persons with disabilities in Nigeria .The Edo state persons disabilities law is silent about the employment of persons with disabilities, so there’s no guarantee, there’s no law to protect them for employment, that’s an abnormally, it’s not so with the Federal legislation, and it’s not so with most States”
Barrister Omosha further called for the review of the Edo state disability law to create percentage of job allotment for persons with disabilities in the state.
Most states and centre what they have is five percent job guarantee for persons with disabilities , Edo state law is completely silent about job opportunities for persons with disabilities, that is not to say that we do not have persons with disabilities working with the state Government, but it’s not protected by law, it’s based on benevolence of the actor, but that’s what we want change with the coming in of the law, because the law is very deficient and defective as far as that law is concerned . “
He further alleged discriminatory questions on the Nigeria’s National Identification Number enrollment Form as worrisome against the physically challenged.
“The NIN form’s use of descriptors like blind, deaf, dumb, paralyzed, hunchback is not just outdated—it is dehumanizing as the terms reflect a time when disabilities were viewed through the lenses of tragedy, superstition, or charity—not through rights, dignity, and inclusion.”
He added that such discriminatory languages reinforces the belief that people with disabilities are anomalies, burdens, or objects of pity—rather than human beings with potential, agency, and rights.
Barrister Omosha appealed that Disability Questions should be made Respectful and Voluntary as a way to serve, not to stigmatize and discriminate against the physically challenged.
A father of a child with special needs and Executive Director Christabel Otueroro Foundation an NGO for children with special needs, Mr Onome Otueroro said
inclusion should not just about being kind but about being just.
“Our children don’t need pity. They need access. They need opportunities. They need to be seen, heard, and valued — not despite their differences, but because of who they are.inclusion means making room — in schools, churches, playgrounds, workplaces, and society at large — for every child, no matter their ability and designing systems that embrace differences, not just tolerate them. “
He added that when Nigeria include children with special needs, she creates environments that are more compassionate, creative, and human.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Chairman, Edo State Commission, for persons with Disabilities Mr Theophilus Egbodion on what the Edo State Government was doing to address challenges of the physically challenged in the state was unsuccessful
Fortune Oyem/Bronze FM
