Include us in your govt, people living with disabilities beg Sanwo-Olu

Dare Dairo, chairman of the Lagos state  chapter of the national association of persons living with physical disabilities (NAPWPD), has called on Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor-elect of Lagos state, to enhance the welfare and productivity of people living with disabilities in the state, as he assumes office.

Dairo spoke at a press briefing tagged “Setting Agenda in Inclusion and Disability Affairs for the Incoming Administration of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu”, held in Lagos, on Tuesday.

The chairman of the association commended the state government’s achievement in signing the special people’s bill into law but said there is much to be done in instituting a culture of inclusion in all the facets of government planning.

He listed bureaucracy, low level of awareness and compliance with the disability law by government agencies and the private sector as part of the reasons much significance have not been made.

“Much investments have been made in the areas of empowerment and provision of devices in order to enhance the quality of living and general productivity of people living with disabilities in the state,” he said.

“These investments can be improved upon with clearly defined goals with the right monitoring and evaluation parameters to measure effectiveness.

“Much is expected at this critical point, as governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu assumes office. Throughout his campaign, the governor-elect consistently demonstrated an informed awareness of the need to improve on the state’s policies on inclusion and the welfare of people living with disabilities.”

Dairo urged the state government to alleviate poverty among people living with disabilities by providing entrepreneurship training for them and ensuring that the structure for inclusion is properly enshrined in critical areas like education, health, sports and political participation.

Yekini Saliu, vice chairman of the state chapter of NAPWPD, said Nigeria is not doing much to encourage special sports.

“Special sports is a very competitive sport in the world. In most international competitions for special sports, once Nigeria is not there, the host countries do not like it because they know we pull crowd. In power lifting, Nigeria has the best lifters in the world, record setters, record breakers,” he said.

“But let us be frank with ourselves, Nigeria is not encouraging its special sport activities; it is unfortunate to be a disable in Nigeria. For instance, the Olympic is coming up next year, the world organising committee has now said any country that wants to participate in the Olympic must compete in other competitions and gather points for qualification.

“So we need funding to attend other competitions. We appeal to the Lagos state government and the federal government to encourage special sports athletes.”