by The U.S. National Archives

Nigeria, the bottle is half way up – Kaduna state Government

No, Nigeria is half way down – Persons with Disabilities

The Persons with Disabilities have kicked against the move by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to review the country’s 1999 Constitution by Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution , saying that the move is based on selfish interest of the Senators and the Government officials been decorated with propagandas in the name of constitutional review.

The Person with Disabilities welcomed the constitutional review however, said that what kind of review is it when the issue of the 19 Million Disabled Persons in Nigeria  is been left out of the review, stating, there is no single law in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that protects the disabled people.

Every day, Persons with Disabilities are faced with all kinds of humiliation from the public and they do not have right of employment left alone freedom of expression simply because they are disabled.

Speaking with the Vice President of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) of Nigeria, Comrade Riluwan Moh’d Abdullahi who said the constitutional review has been done multiple times in the country and at the end of the whole exercise nothing is been achieved from the review and the situation became worst on daily basis.

“One of the hindrances to constitutional review in Nigeria is the personal interest of the government officers, all the Senators have their own interest, and once the review is not in their favor the kick against it. They do not care about the masses all they care about is their own interest.”

It has been almost 3 years since the Persons with Disability submitted a Bill to the National Assembly to protect the right of the disabled people also to ensure equality, until date nothing has been done about the bill. Instead the disabled people are been evacuated from the street in the quest to keep the country clean for the forthcoming U-17 World Cup.

Commenting further, Abdullahi quoted that Nigeria will not make progress if the Senate House is not rid of the corruption and agreed.

“Nigeria is half way down if the Senators and House Representatives continue to think of themselves and get out of the review and not the masses. There is no constitutional review until there is law that states that both poor and rich, able and the disabled have equal right.”

Addressing the issue, the Special Adviser on Information and Communication Technology, Dr. Baba J. Adamu said that Nigeria needs the support of everybody and the people should bear it in mind that Nigeria is only 10 years old based on the Democratic regime and not everything can be done within the 10 years of Democracy.

“Nigerians should learn how to be patriotic and know that this is just 10 years of Democracy and it is not possible for everything to be perfect within this short period of Democracy. Nigeria is half way up and with the support of everybody the country in the near future will be better.”

Adamu called on the Persons with Disabilities to be patient with the National Assembly and with time the situation will get better however; the question is how much longer will Nigerians have to wait.

Related The Constitution Articles