The President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government has concluded plans to set up a task force that will shut down public buildings that have failed the compliance test in providing accessibility to Persons With Disabilities (PWD).
He has also called on the 36 state governors to institute state-owned disability commissions to support inclusivity and with grassroots as the target.
Tinubu, who revealed this in commemoration of the 2023 International Day of Persons With Disabilities, said the call is not a plea or favour being done to persons with special needs, but an act that remains a statutory right for the PWD.
Represented by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Beta Edu, the president said that the budgetary allocation approved to the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities has been low and unacceptable.
Speaking on the 2023 theme: ‘Renewing hope together for disability- inclusive societies’, the president stated that moving forward, the National Assembly must recognise the need to improve the commission’s budgetary allocation.
He said: “Plans have been concluded and a tax force will soon be in place to ensure that public buildings are PWD-friendly. This is not a plea or a favour, it is enshrined in the constitution that such is their right.
“We will move from place to place, and buildings will be shot down with the backing of the president for noncompliance. Therefore, all public buildings must create all accessibility mediums before we arrive.”
In the same vein, legislators have called for the establishment of a disabilities trust fund at the national and state levels, insisting that disability laws that have been domiciled in states must be made operational.
Declaring the ceremony open, Senator representing Imo West, Osita Izunaso, said if education, health and other sectors have trust funds, same can be applied in the case of PWD.
He said moving forward, the amendment of the Bill on PWD had passed its second reading in the red chamber, and part of issues to be reconsidered will include the five percent employment opportunity which has captured only the public sector to include the private sector as well.
THISDAY
