PWDs Advocate More Funding, Inclusive Governance

The national president Joint National Association of Person With Disabilities (PWD’s), Dr. Abdulahi Alihu Usman, has called on the federal and state government to provide more funding for people with disabilities and involve them in decision making to promote good governance in the country.

He stated this yesterday in Abuja, at the one-day consultation forum, organize by the Sightsavers with the organization of person with disabilities on mid-term review of disability inclusion in implementation of sustainable development goals SDGs with the, theme: ‘’Leaving No One Behind”.

According to him, “It is important to note that building an inclusive society goes beyond preparing persons with disabilities for the workspace or providing them with skills and get members of the public ready to receive persons with disabilities and begin to see them as an integral part of the society, and that’s part of the goal of this gathering.

“We are appealing to all relevant stakeholders in both public and private to accelerate action on the SDGs and ensure their inclusion for people with disabilities. We all have the equal right to education, employment opportunities and health care, and the right to have a say in the decisions that affect our lives.

“Approximately Nigeria has modern 30 million people’s leaving with disabilities, across the country and were are being marginalised on the grounds of gender, poverty, age or other factors, these rights are often denied because of stigma and discrimination.

“You’re talking about financial services in Nigeria, where everybody expected to be assessable when it comes to financial services like you get to the bank, you lodging your money, make withdraw at your convenience. So some of these services are not accessible for blind persons, as well as public procurements.

“We need government supports by giving out contracts and ensure that the citizens does business to empower them economically. In this process, we discover that there is a gap and your assertion of the blind discover that there is a gap and we approach organization who funded us to carry out financial services and public procurement inclusion.

“In that project, we’re in ensuring that we point to the governments where, the we are being excluded from some of the services that governments give to her citizens and in line with SDG goals. We came up with this program and we have been trying up and down to ensure that our voice is held we have wrote a latter to CBN several time, no response from CBN.”