By Joy Baba-Yesufu
Women living with disability in Nigeria have urged government at all levels to include them in decision making process saying that they have ben excluded, discriminated, sidelined, marginalized, under represented and treated as third class citizens in the society.
This assertion was made by Founder of Cedar Seed Foundation, a non-governmental organization, Mrs. Lois Auta, in Abuja.
Auta, who spoke on behalf of women with disability at a world press conference on Disability Inclusion in Governance (DIG), said the significance of including this group of women in governance structures cannot be overemphasized.
She said women with various forms of disability are continually excluded and underrepresented in elections and political participation adding that an informed and proactive measure is urgently needed to achieve and sustain the goal for inclusivity in all electoral process most importantly, post 2023 elections.
“We need to remind government that person with disabilities need to be appointed in government structures”, she stressed.
Auta further said the objective of DIG is to ensure that no one, including women with disabilities is left behind in political participation and decision-making process.
According to her “this objective underscores our commitment to leaving no one behind in our democratic journey and to specifically target people with disabilities for political participation, involvement in decision making and implementation of clause 54 of the electoral act 2022”.
She maintained that the Cedar Seed Foundation is unwavering in its commitment to ensuring that every citizen, regardless of their abilities, has an equal and active role to play in our democratic process most importantly women with disabilities who are tripled jeopardized.
Also speaking, the chairman, Abuja chapter of Persons living with Disabilities (PWD) Mr. Agbo Christian Obiora, said their community has a lot of number in the country and therefore deserves a reasonable number in decision making process.
He said “persons with disabilities are over 31 million in Nigeria, that is not a small number, it is more than some countries in Africa.
“When you are serious about curbing poverty or taking care of the weak, you must have to mainstream persons with disabilities and again, if PWD are not in the corridors of power, their issues will always be second thought that is why there is a need for PWD to be represented at all level of governance so that their issues will be taken care of as at when due”.
He therefore expressed displeasure that no PWD was appointed as minister despite that Nigeria has laws to protect their rights while calling on Mr. president to consider someone from their community in appointments for head of agencies and board members in future.
