The National President of People with Physical Disabilities Mallam Rilwan Abdullahi has appealed for speedy implementation of the Disability law passed by the Kaduna State Assembly last year to enable members of the organization enjoy the rights and privileges for inclusive development.
He made the call in Kaduna at a one day Public Policy Dialogue with the theme, Transformative Solutions For Inclusive Development Organized by Kaduna Social Protection Accountability Coalition KADSPAC in Collaboration with Legal Awareness for Nigerian Women and supported by Save the Children Nigeria.
Mallam Rilwan Abdullahi said the issues affecting Persons with Disabilities including, Education, Unemployment, and poor access to facilities should not be spoken of as rhetorics or theory but must be treated in practical terms to reap in the potentials of affected persons.
He emphasised the need for media organizations especially Television stations to employ the services of sign language interpreters for their news and feature programmes to ensure the hearing impaired were not left behind.
In a presentation, Mr. Yusuf Goje of Coalition of Associations for Leadership Peace and Empowerment Development commended the Kaduna State Government for establishing a Disability Affairs Board and also called for increased budgetary allocation and enforcement of their priority interests.
Mr. Goje said the Forum was organized to discuss critical disability community issues and developed an advocacy demands towards addressing the needs of people with Disability.
At the event, representatives of different clusters of Persons with Disabilities presented a charter which includes the demands for accessibility to Polling Units and equal voting rights for its members, prioritizing inclusive education, increased budgetary allocation, enhance inclusive education and scholarships opportunities among other demands.
Cov/Shindong Bala