By Kemi Ajayi
#TrackNigeria: Ahead of the 2019 elections, Mr David Anyaele, Executive Director, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, has advised physically challenged persons to vote for candidates who would reduce their burdens.
Anyaele, also physically challenged, said in Lagos that people living with disability should be wary of candidates with no clear programmes for them.
He spoke in an interview in Lagos on Tuesday.
“The morale of people with disability has been undermined as a result of poverty; an average person with disability is looking for who to give him money to eat.
“Their thinking faculties and abilities to understand their issues and be able to project for the future have been hampered; that makes it a big issue.
“I want them to vote for candidates who will improve their conditions of living; you can only know through manifestos.
“If a candidate’s or party’ manifesto doesn’t capture people with disability, such an individual or party will not prioritise the welfare of people with disability,’’ he said.
He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently assent to the Disability Bill.
Anyaele said that signing the bill into law would enhance living conditions of the physically challenged and reduce discrimination against them.
“We have succeeded in getting a bill that protects persons with disability against discrimination; “we are calling on the president to sign the bill into law.
“Nigeria is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability; it made a robust provision and encourages actors to ensure that people with disability are rehabilitated and integrated.
“There is high level of discrimination, exclusion and isolation from some Nigerians,’’ he said. (NAN)
