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From Exclusion to Empowerment: Disability Inclusion Report Sparks National Debate
Project Enable Africa, in partnership with the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, on Friday launched Nigeria’s inaugural State of Disability Inclusion Report (SDIR) 2024.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
This groundbreaking report provides the first national, data-driven analysis of disability inclusion across critical sectors such as education, healthcare, employment, governance, and social protection. It identifies major gaps while outlining opportunities to strengthen inclusive policies and systems nationwide.
Speaking at the launch, Executive Director of Project Enable Africa, Mr. Olalekan Owonikoko, described the report as a milestone evaluation of disability rights implementation across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The findings were drawn from extensive stakeholder consultations and firsthand interviews with persons with disabilities across the country,” he noted.
Representing the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr. Ayuba Gufwan, Mr. Nkem Uchegbulam said the newly released accessibility enforcement guideline would ensure the full implementation of standards, including the issuance of compliance certificates.
“We have put in place effective mechanisms to enforce accessibility laws and protect the rights of persons with disabilities,” he affirmed.
Gufwan also pledged to circulate the report’s findings to relevant ministries and state governments to align their mandates with the SDIR’s recommendations.
Dr. Kola Olugbodi, a board member of Project Enable Africa, said the launch was timely, as the five-year grace period granted for compliance with the 2019 National Disability Act has just expired.
“This report is not just a publication—it’s a wake-up call. It allows us to measure how far we’ve come on issues of accessibility, employment, and inclusion,” he said.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Maryam Keshinro—represented by Mr. Ayuba Richard—lamented that persons with disabilities have long been marginalised.
“Their voices, experiences, and aspirations are often overlooked. This report marks a turning point in our national commitment to equality and inclusion,” she said.
Keshinro also emphasized the gender-disability nexus, pointing out that women and girls with disabilities face compounded challenges in education, healthcare, economic empowerment, and political representation.
“We must ask ourselves: Are our schools inclusive? Are public spaces accessible? Are development programmes truly leaving no one behind?” she queried.
Giving a summary of the report, disability rights advocate Mr. Bukola Adebayo noted that only 23 states have domesticated disability laws, and just 15 have operational disability commissions as of 2024. He called for urgent reforms.
“States must allocate dedicated budgets for disability inclusion and conduct nationwide accessibility audits of public facilities,” Adebayo urged.
He also recommended a comprehensive review of national and state health insurance schemes to ensure they are responsive to the specific needs of persons with disabilities.
“Where such schemes exist, they must be disability-sensitive in both design and delivery,” he added.
The SDIR was produced as part of the Disability Inclusion Metric Project with funding support from the Nigerian Youth Futures Fund. Its release comes at a pivotal moment—coinciding with the conclusion of the five-year transitional window outlined in the 2019 Disability Act.
Nigeria ended the 24th African Athletics Championships on a strong note as the women’s 4x400m relay team stormed to gold on the final day, helping the country finish with a total of 12 medals.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
The quartet of Esther Okon, Toheebat Jimoh, Jecinter Lawrence, and Patience Okon-George delivered a dominant performance to successfully defend their title, winning in 3:29.25 on Sunday and finishing comfortably ahead of Ethiopia and Kenya.
Nigeria controlled the race from the opening leg and crossed the finish line nearly 30 metres clear of their closest rivals, securing the country’s fourth gold medal of the competition.
Overall, Team Nigeria finished fourth on the medal table with four gold, five silver, and three bronze medals, behind Kenya, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Kenya topped the standings with 17 medals, including six gold, while South Africa also secured six gold medals, and Ethiopia claimed five.
Nigeria’s final-day silver medal came through Rosemary Chukwuma, who finished second in the women’s 200m with a time of 23.60s, behind Ivory Coast’s Maboundou Kone, who clocked 23.36s. Chukwuma ended the championships with three medals, having earlier won gold in the women’s 4x100m relay and silver in the 100m.
The country’s campaign was led by world record holder Tobi Amusan, who claimed gold in the women’s 100m hurdles with a time of 12.83s. The mixed 4x400m relay team of Ezekiel Asuquo, Toheebat Jimoh, Victor Sampson, and Patience Okon-George also secured gold in 3:16.44, while the women’s 4x100m relay team added another title in 42.94s.
Silver medals were won by Oyesade Olatoye in the hammer throw (69.60m), Divine Oladipo in the discus, and the men’s 4x100m relay team, which finished in 38.70s. Adaobi Tabugbo earned bronze in the women’s 100m hurdles with 13.26s, while Chidera Ezeakor also picked up bronze in the men’s 100m after running 10.31s, rounding off a strong outing for Nigeria.
Nigerian activist Omoyele Sowore has criticised singer Adekunle Gold over the legal case involving a young man identified as Adeboye Samuel.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
News reports that Adeboye was taken to court after making a social media post about the singer’s daughter.
Reacting to the development, Sowore referenced an old post by Adekunle Gold in which the singer had criticised former President Goodluck Jonathan.
He noted that the post, which circulated during the 2012 fuel subsidy protests, had gone unpunished as an expression of free speech. The post read: “Dear God, if you give us Dagrin back, we will give you Jonathan in return.”
Sowore wrote on X: “@AdekunleGold in 2012 openly criticising then-President @GoodluckJonathan. Back then, it was rightly called free speech, and if he had been arrested for those tweets, we would have been on the streets demanding his immediate release.
“How then does someone who benefited from freedom of expression turn around years later to use the police, courts, and the brutal cybercrime framework against ordinary Nigerians over online banter and social media exchanges?
“You cannot enjoy free speech when you are powerless, and criminalise it the moment you become influential. Freedom of expression must apply to everyone, celebrities, politicians, activists, and poor young Nigerians on social media alike.”
He further urged the Nigeria Police Force not to act as a “private army” for influential individuals, and called on the judiciary to avoid imposing excessive penalties on online speech cases that, according to him, should not be treated as criminal matters.
Rabiu Kwankwaso, a chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has called on Nigerians to move beyond ethnic and religious divisions ahead of the 2027 general elections.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Kwankwaso made the appeal during an interview with Trust TV on Sunday, where he spoke on political alignments ahead of the polls.
The former presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) said political success in Nigeria cannot be achieved by the North or Muslims alone without support from Christians and other regions.
“We must look beyond tribe and religion. We are Northerners and Muslims, and everybody knows that, but we can’t play politics without Christians, Southeast, South-South or South-west,” he said.
Kwankwaso also praised former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, describing him as a widely accepted politician across the country.
“If you look at it, Peter Obi is a very popular politician in the entire South and many parts of Northern Nigeria, and you cannot take that from him, the same with the Kwankwasiyya movement,” he said.
He further noted that supporters of the Kwankwasiyya movement are largely young Nigerians who are seeking better opportunities rather than ethnic or family-based loyalty.
“We are lucky that our supporters are mainly young men and women who are looking for a way out. They are not looking for their brothers or their sisters or somebody close,” he added.
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