By Leonard Okachie
The Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) on Wednesday educated leaders of Persons With Disabilities (PWD) from the 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs) on Abia State Disability Law 2022.
The CCD Executive Director, Mr David Anyaele, said it organised the sensitisation workshop in Umuahia because many PWD did not know the contents of the Law since it was passed.
He said the centre recognised the struggle to secure the bill now passed into law.
According to him, while recognising the struggle, it becomes imperative to build PWD capacity for them to know their roles and responsibilities in ensuring full compliance with its provisions.
He said: “What we have just done now is sensitising the PWD leaders.
“We are looking at strengthening their capacities to be able to, not only respond, but be master trainers at the LGA level, so that from time to time they have tools to monitor and evaluate public response.”
Anyaele expressed the hope that the incoming government of Dr Alex Otti, would include PWD in leadership at all levels.
The Resource Person, Mr Okey Kanu, gave the synopsis of the Law, while the participants did a critique on areas they felt should be amended.
Kanu, a legal practitioner and Secretary of Abia State Advisory Committee on Disability Matters, said their aim was to have an inclusive society.
“We want an inclusive society and we can only get that when there is a level playing ground for everybody,” he said.
The participants agreed that there was need for awareness, saying that the larger society was not aware of the disability issues.
They said that some members of the society who discriminated against them did so ignorantly and not deliberately.
One of the participants, Mr Ugochukwu Nwankwo, Abia Treasurer, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, said much was expected from them as stakeholders to sensitise the public about the law as regards compliance.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the participants, who were from various clusters of the disability community, were enlightened on the various provisions of the Law.
NAN also reports that Abia House of Assembly passed the Diability Bill in August 2022, while Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu assented to it on Oct. 11, 2022. (NAN)
