The Center for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) has ranked Lagos State top in the implementation of accessibility to infrastructure and other services for the benefits of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in accordance with the National Disabilities Act.

Damian Ivom, the CCD senior programme officer, said this at the unveiling of the survey report on Monday in Abuja.

The survey was conducted from October to November to assess the level of implementation of the National Disability Act and UNIDIS criteria by the state government.

The survey was also carried out in Abia and Yobe to ascertain the level of disability inclusion in the plans, policies and programmes of the governments.

Mr Ivom said that the survey was supported by the MacArthur Foundation with the aim of enhancing the effectiveness of the disability act in the country.

“A checklist field visit and tools were used to assess the disability-Inclusive compliance rates of state governments buildings and Lagos state leads in implementation.

“We realised that there is need to ascertain the levels of inclusion accorded to PWDs in the process of governance by the government at all levels, especially by the states that have domesticated the Disability Act.

“This is why CCD with the support of MacArthur Foundation undertook the development of a standardized scorecard tool aimed to accurately and uniformly measure the levels of inclusion provided for PWDs across the country.

“And the survey report notably shows that Lagos state leads in implementing both the UN Inclusion Strategy Scorecard (UNIDIS) criteria and the 2018 National Disability Act, while Abia state recorded the least implementation,” he said.

Mr Ivom said that a “Kobocollect” research tool was adopted and used by the field researchers in the three states with utmost supervision to get a qualitative result.

He also said that a draft standardized scorecard tool was revised and deployed for the survey to simplify the process using a four dimension respondents assessment tool.

This he said included the open-ended questionnaire on the implementation of the National Disability Act in terms of access to infrastructure and other services, assessment on the implementation of the UNIDIS Criteria and observatory checklist field visits.

He said that Lagos had exceeded the requirements of UNIDIS criteria and had adhered to the majority of the checklist requirements.

According to him, Lagos state has demonstrated higher implementation of accessibility to infrastructure and services as well as improved security for PWDs in the state.

“Lagos state has exceeded the requirements of UNDIS criteria ranging from 51.11 to 73.33 per cent with regards to state consultation and engagement with the Organisation of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs).

“In Yobe state, it is yet to exceed the requirements of UNIDIS, only 2.04 per cent of our survey showed that the government meet the requirements under the indicators of leadership and capacity development of government staff.

“However, the state has approached the UNIDIS requirements under the core area of inclusiveness and programming.

“Whereas, in Abia, the survey shows that it is has approached the UNIDIS requirements on leaderships and communication, but was below the criteria for disability inclusion, and consultations,” he said.

Mr Ivom said that compared to Abia and Yobe states, Lagos ranked top, however there was still room for advancement in inclusivity in all three states to meet international standard of inclusivity.

He called for the revision of the 2018 National Disability Act to align with the UNIDIS criteria to ensure comprehensive and uniformed implementation of the Act.

He also called for advocacy partnerships and engagements by the governments with OPDs for training and retraining of stakeholders across sectors of government at all levels.

Mr Ivom also called for the setting-up of timelines and constitution of a task force for the monitoring of implementation of the provisions of the disability act.

He urged the federal government to enforce penalties outlined in the disability act immediately after the monutarium period of compliance to the provisions of the law. 

(NAN)