An NGO, the Global Initiative for Civil Stabilisation (GICS), has called on the federal and state governments to design skills acquisition programmes for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
Chief Executive Officer of the NGO, Mr Muhammad Al-Mansur, made the call at a one-day media capacity building workshop for journalists on Monday in Abuja.
He said it was important to introduce skills acquisition programmes for PWDs to enable them to be independent and live dignified lives.
“In Nigeria, we tend to relegate issues of disabilities to the background; we prefer giving persons with disabilities little tokens and we think that solves their problems.
“We are expected to look at a holistic way we can fully integrate these people into the society.
“A lot of these people beg for alms not because they want to be beggars, but because of the economic realities confronting them,’’ Al-Mansur said.
He noted that if educational programmes were designed for PWDs, they would be led to career paths and employment would be provided for them.
Also speaking at the workshop, Mr Odoh Diego, a development communication expert and facilitator, called for an end to the use of PWDs for alms begging.
“The law criminalises the use of PWDs to solicit for alms, but because of our cultural or religious norms, we think we are duty-bound to show them empathy.
“People need to be aware of the law. Since 2019, when former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the law, it became a crime to use PWDs for alms-begging,’’ he stressed.
In her remarks, Miss Mary Musa, a PWD, appealed for the implementation of the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act.
“To pass a law is one thing; to implement it is another thing; so the bulk of the work lies on everybody to make it work,’’ she said.
The workshop has “Reporting for Deepening the Implementation of the 2018 Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act’’ as its theme.
The workshop, organised by the Differently Abled Civil Empowerment Programme of the NGO, was supported by the embassy of Switzerland in Nigeria.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria