The Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Timothy Owoeye, has stated that the state government will work towards the domestication of the Persons With Disabilities (PWD) Bill in order to meet with the trending global template.
This is as he stated that the government will support the inclusion of persons with disability in governance and government policies and ensure their participation in social intervention programmes and the availability of sign language interpreters in government programmes.
The Speaker made this known as a Non-Governnental Organisation, The Albino Foundation (TAF) paid an advocacy visit Friday to the State House of Assembly to canvas the support of the legislative arm of government in enhancing civic and political participation of PWDs in Nigeria.
Owoeye, while addressing the NGO stated that the state government is receptive to persons with disability adding that they will be included in all state government activities.
Owoeye noted that, “Persons with Disability are human beings and attention should be paid to them in Osun and Nigeria as a whole.
“They have roles and what they can contribute to the society. They have power to vote and to voice their demands as citizens of the state and country respectively.”
Earlier in his remarks, TAF Osun EU SDGN Project Supervisor for Osun and Ekiti state, Ogunbiyitan Kehinde said the organisation was on advocacy campaign to ensure that Persons with Disability were given attention and included in governance since they are stakeholders during election.
He added that the call for the inclusion of this category of persons is that their population in Nigeria according to World Health Organisation statistics is about 20 million.
Ogunbiyitan explained that the domestication of the Persons with Disability Bill will improve their lives since they have a right to be included in governance and it is part of the responsibility of governments to give them an enabling environment.
