Senior Special Adviser to the President on Disability Matters, Dr. Samuel Ankeli, has advocated for the speedy passage of the disability bill currently at the National Assembly.
Ankeli, who made the call in an interview, on Monday, in Abuja, stated that the bill had been in the national Assembly for 20 years.
According to him, the passage will enable people living with disabilities to be recognised in the society as well as address discrimination against them.
“We have been denied access to justice for 20 years with the non-passage of the National Disability Bill.
“They are taking too long to get a legal frame work to protect the rights of persons living with disabilities in Nigeria and all of us must work as one nation.
“I want to call on the national assembly to expedite action on this bill, so that the executives can sign the bill into law and get us a commission to protect the right of persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
“So that we can join our sister nations and become part of the global system,’’ he said.
He noted that some of the policies currently existing in Nigeria do not take cognizance of people living with disabilities, adding that they should be part of policy formulation and implementation.
The presidential aide added that including them in policy formulation would allow the government to know their needs and cater for them.
“Whatever the policy formulators want to do we should be part of it so we can tell them the peculiarities of our needs.
“I suggest that Nigeria should device a policy that will support people living with disabilities financially, the one in existence is not sufficient to meet our social and personal needs as family or as society,’’ he said.
He explained that all over the world because of the level of neglect, level of poverty and the inability to use their potentials they to get what they need, their government supports them.
He explained that the support from government was essential because of the expensive nature of their lifestyle as a result of the equipment they use to aid themselves.
Ankeli cited disability working allowance, disability living allowance, disability studies allowance as the kind of support needed.
The presidential aide assured persons living with disabilities of adequate solutions to their problems soon, stating that he was working with relevant authorities to ease their burdens. (NAN)