Over 90% of children with disabilities, according to FG, do not have access to elementary education

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

More than 90% of children with impairments do not have access to elementary education, according to the federal government.

According to the report, 25 million Nigerians suffer from some sort of disability, and more than half of them are female. Only 5% of the population is literate.

At the National Conference of Women with Disabilities in Abuja, which had as its theme “Violence Against Women with Disabilities is a Violence Against All Women,” Minister of Women Affairs Paullen Tallen made this admission.

The conference’s theme, which gives participants a chance to reflect and raise awareness about the plight of women and girls living with disabilities who frequently experience violence, was deemed appropriate by the minister, who emphasized the need for behavioral and attitudinal change toward people with disabilities.

Tallen, who was represented at the event by Deputy Director for Women’s Development Mrs. Christiana Oliko, emphasized that the COVID-19 pandemic severely halted the advancement and exposed long-standing injustices against People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs) as well as the emergence of new dangers.

“They continue to encounter stigma, prejudice, and obstacles to using public transportation and social support nets. They currently encounter more obstacles as a result of the COVID-19.

The minister noted that women with disabilities suffer from physical, sexual, and financial abuse three times more frequently than women without impairments.

Tallen recommended include women and girls who are disabled in the development of any programs created for PLWDs.

She emphasized that the government, through the ministry, has taken some actions to address the needs of PLWD, including the ratification of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act of 2015 and the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Acts, both of which were passed in 2018.

The minister disclosed that, to varied degrees of implementation, all 31 of the federation’s states had domesticated laws to protect people’s rights, including those of people with disabilities.

The conference, which was conducted to further actualize the ministry’s objectives on “social inclusion,” was organized by the Advocacy for Women Disabilities Initiative (AWDI) in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs (FMWA) and other partners.