A PWD | File photo
The Ogun state disability community has implored Dapo Abiodun, governor of the state, to recognise their rights by establishing a disability commission.
Abdulwahab Matepo, interim national president of the Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria (SCIAN), said Ogun is “too enlightened, too educated, too blessed and too advanced” not to gazette its disability law.
Matepo underscored that the community is not “begging for pity” but is “asking for our rights, for justice, for equity and for inclusion guaranteed by a disability law”.
He added that the plight of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Ogun is compounded by the fact that the state is currently among the handful without a disability law”.
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Matepo pleaded for the urgent re-enactment and gazetting of the disability law, which was signed by Ibikunle Amosun, former governor of the state.
Other crucial demands are the immediate establishment and activation of the Ogun State Disability Commission and the inclusion of a dedicated budget line for disability affairs.
SCIAN lamented that the community is told to “exercise patience” every year, yet continues to face “discrimination, exclusion and indignity”, and is determined not to “start all over again when another administration takes over”.
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