TheCable

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has expressed its readiness to address the socio-economic challenges affecting people with disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria.

The agency is seeking the cooperation of stakeholders on ways to remove hindrances preventing PWDs from participating in social and economic activities.

Charles Odii, the chief executive officer of SMEDAN, made this known during a two-day capacity building programme on grant and growth support for business membership organisations (BMOs) in Lagos.

“The challenge before us now is how to address the barriers to socio-economic inclusion of people with special abilities,” he said.

“SMEDAN is an agency of the federal government saddled with the responsibility of nurturing and growing nano, micro, small and medium enterprises and supporting trade associations.

“The challenges encountered are in the areas of achieving standards, meeting regulatory requirements, appropriate packaging and labelling, access to finance, access to market and advocating the closure of infrastructure gaps for competitiveness.

“SMEDAN is working assiduously towards addressing the barriers to socio-economic inclusion through multipronged approach, appropriate policy and institutional reforms.

“We also believe that the public and private sectors as well as the society at large have great roles to play in the economic inclusion and empowerment of people with special abilities.”

Odii said in 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that 29 million out of 195 million PWDs in the world reside in Nigeria.

He said there are many barriers besetting PWDs and that the barriers vary depending on the type of disability and context.