People with disabilities (PWDs) in Ondo State have called on the State Government to protect their rights by domesticating the National Disability Act.
The group, at a two-day workshop and town hall meeting for PWDs and key stakeholders on budget-cycle and the reviews of the Ondo State 2025 budget/mobilizing on budget tracking, organized by the Disability Not A Barrier Initiative (DINABI), funded by Disability Rights Fund (DRF), which was held in Akure on Monday, said they deserves quality healthcare and inclusive social protection.
Olajide Benjamin, the Executive Director, Disability Not A Barrier Initiative (DINABI), in his welcome address said; “the purpose of the workshop is particularly looking at training and strengthening the capacity of persons with disabilities around budget cycle and budget tracking. And of course it is important as citizens to also engage governments and most especially the budget process.
“In most cases in our society people don’t care about what is in the budget, often even when they care about what is in the budget, they don’t care about the implementation of it, and if a budget is being prepared, no matter how inclusive the budget might be, if at the end of the day it doesn’t have an impact in the life of the people, then it’s of no use.
Read also: Incorporate us in Ondo budgetary allocations, PWDs tell Govt
“So this process is only about us ensuring that persons with disabilities also get involved in the budget process. For instance, at the beginning of every year they (government) promised that through this budget we are going to give you free education, we are going to provide free health care services, we are going to provide roads, we are going to build this and that.
“But at the end of the day, oftentimes we realize that some of these things don’t usually come into being and citizens will just keep quiet and next year again they start all over again without any tangible result. So it is high time for citizens to begin to engage the government and begin to ask questions.
“So we want to train citizens so that they will be able to know the nitty-gritty of how to begin to ask questions and how to begin to follow up on the budget documents, some of the line items in the budget for persons with disabilities. They should be able to begin to find out, has the government done this, if they have not done it, how can we engage them so that they will go back to work and begin to do it. And that is one of the essences of this activity. And governments should be able to maneuver around how to generate revenue for projects in the state.
“So, the government should make hospitals, health centres and health information accessible, train health workers on disability inclusive practices, create disability-specific budget lines, employ sign language interpreters in health facilities, recruit disability specialized health workers e.g dermatologist, review social protection law to be disability inclusive, ensure inclusion of PWDs in design, execution and evaluation of social protection programmes.
“Give at least 5 per cent of bursary scholarship, credit facilities and empowerment programmes to PWDs, review and expand social register to capture persons with disabilities, establish disability allowance for civil servants with disabilities, prioritize persons with disabilities in health insurance schemes.”
Abiodun Olusegun, the Ondo State Chairman, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, who also lamented the non implementation of budget being approved to PWDs in the state said; “I want to tell you that last year, 2024, the sum of N330 billion was put into our agency, Agency for the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities. But I want to tell you that we did not access 2 per cent of the budget. This year again, they reduced the amount from N330 to about N228, and we are ready to track the budget.”
BusinessDay reports that Disability Not A Barrier Initiative, is a non-profit organization of persons with disabilities, committed to fostering inclusion, equity and justice for persons with disabilities.
