The abridged Igbo, Pidgin and Audio versions of Anambra State Disability Rights Law 2018 has been presented in Awka with a call on Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo to ensure full operationalization of the Disability Rights Law (DRL) in the state.
The Disability Rights Law was passed the State House of Assembly on 13th September 2018 and assented to by then Governor Willie Obiano same year, making Anambra the first and only state in the South East to have a legislation that protects the rights of persons with disabilities.
It was against this backdrop that stakeholders from Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) in conjunction with Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) presented the Abridged Igbo, Pidgin and Audio versions of the Law in Awka for Governor Soludo through Disability Rights Commission (DRC) to operationalize the law and ensure full integration of the disability community in the state and in his administration.
The State Coordinator of RoLAC, Mrs Josephine Onah told JONAPWD to activate this law to the critical stakeholders in this administration of Governor Soludo with a view to raising the inclusiveness of marginalised persons with disabilities.
“Let us join hands at increasing the tempo at which this law was made.
“In terms of disability friendliness, there is no elevator that will make members of the disability community to reach various offices at the Jerome Udorji State Secretariat Awka.
“We need more trained sign language interpreters to relay this law to the deaf community, as 40 of them already trained are not enough to do the job.”
On his part, the Deputy Director National Orientation Agency (NOA), Sir Joseph Uchendu observed that it is the work of the government to activate the Disability Rights Commission to become functional with it’s Chairman working on full-time basis as against part time that currently obtains.
“There is need to let the government know the importance of activating the commission so that everything we are saying should be captured in next year’s budget. They must do something. We need many capable hands to go higher.
Barr (Mrs) Amaka Maduabuchi of the Legal Aid Council was of the view that good work RoLAC started should be sustained even as it winds off by the end of December this year.
Reviewing the Disability Rights Law, the Legal Adviser of JONAPWD, Barr Peter Moneke said for the law to be fully operational, there must a vibrant commission to achieve this through aggressive sensitisations.
According to him, people with disabilities should be included into the Physical Planning Board so as to ensure that the buildings are disability-friendly in conformity with Soludo’s vision of making Anambra a prosperous and liveable state.
“Sections 33 abolished using children to beg for alms. At section 42, it gives the disability community rights to marry. Our President Generals and traditional rulers should be more sensitised as they usually have problems whenever there is issues with our female ones who after acquiring skills, are married off to men outside Anambra while our males are always rejecting them.
“Our members should be free to acquire skills because when you have the skills, you become useful to yourself, family and society.
“Section 49 established equal right to work and employment in all the establishments, academic and other employers of labour. Thus, they should appoint at least one of us at the Transition Committee level to build their interest and knowledge in politics. You will bring them in and include them to go higher.
“Contrary to section 6 of the DRL, our governor should know that chairman of the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) should be a full-time appointment so that we will see him everytime to achieve our aims.”
The State Chairman JONAPWD, Comrade Ugochukwu Okeke applauded the previous administration of Chief Willie Obiano for increasing employment opportunity of persons with disabilities to 140 between 2020 to 2022 while appointing five persons from the disability community into political offices from 2018 to March 2022.
“Obiano inaugurated Disability Rights Commission and it’s 9 commissioners on 1st February 2022 and appointed JONAPWD members into the Technical Committee of the Ministry of Youth Development to ensure inclusion of youths with disabilities in all their trainings.
Comrade Okeke thanked RoLAC for seeking to promote laws and practices that facilitate access to justice for persons with mental and physical disabilities in Anambra state
“RoLAC designed, translated and produced the abridged version of the Disability Rights Law into Pidgin and Igbo, aside advocacy visits to relevant ministries, media engagement programmes on radio and television.”
He said five sign language interpreters have been employed by the state government which has gone a long way to bridge the gap between the deaf and general public.
