A Professor of Intellectual Disability, Professor Tolulope Eni-Olorunda has said that an estimated over 27 million people in Nigeria are living with disabilities.
Professor Eni-Olorunda also called on the Nigerian government to ensure that the Nigeria’s Disabilities Bill 2018 that was passed into law should be implemented accordingly so that Children with disabilities could have enabling environment to live independently and enjoy their rights to education and other benefits.
Some of the noticeable disabilities include visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical impairment, intellectual impairment, and communication impairment.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in January 2019 signed into law the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, after years of relentless advocacy by the nation’s disability rights groups and activists.
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and imposes sanctions including fines and prison sentences on those who contravenes it.
The Daily Crucible reports that the World Health Organization’s 2011 World Disability Report, indicated that about 15 percent of Nigeria’s population, or at least 25 million people have disabilities.
And many of them are subjected to a number of human rights abuses including stigma, discrimination, violence, lack of access to healthcare, housing, education and lack of provision for disability – friendly access way in buildings.
However, the don who brought the plights of the people with disabilities into focus at an academic community lecture, called on parents and the society at large to show them love and understanding, knowing that such people, particularly children among them, are human beings who have no control over their condition.
The lecturer made the plea while presenting the 74th inaugural Lecture of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta(FUNAAB) at the institution’s Oluwafemi Balogun Ceremonial Hall on Wednesday.
The Lecture titled: “They Are Humans Too: Give Them A Chance,” would be the first to be presented since the assumption of office of the seventh Vice- Chancellor of FUNAAB, Prof. Babatunde Kehinde in April, 2023.
She posited that their acceptance by parents and the society would help them adjust emotionally, psychologically and socially, as well as, help them live independent lives.
She also called for implementation of the law against people with disabilities so that Children with intellectual disability could have enabling environment to thrive and enjoy their rights to many things.
According to the inaugural lecturer, it is abnormal to refer to such people as “physically challenged persons.”
On the contrary, she advised that such people should be referred to as “persons with special needs” or “exceptional Children.”
The occasion was a meeting ground for both the gown and the town, as eminent personalities from both sides were in attendance including Principal Officers of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
