Disability Act: FG, IFA launch compliance dashboard

  The Inclusive Friend Association (IFA) has formally launched the Accessibility Compliance Dashboard (ACD) to monitor the compliance of the public institutions on the five per cent employment/appointment of persons with disability (PWDs) and other provisions of the Disability Act. The event was held in collaboration with the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) […]

 

The Inclusive Friend Association (IFA) has formally launched the Accessibility Compliance Dashboard (ACD) to monitor the compliance of the public institutions on the five per cent employment/appointment of persons with disability (PWDs) and other provisions of the Disability Act.

The event was held in collaboration with the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) and with support from the MacArthur Foundation through the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD).

An Accessibility Compliance Dashboard is a tool that provides a centralized view of an organization’s progress in meeting accessibility standards and helps track, manage, and report on compliance efforts, ensuring that digital products and services are accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Speaking at the launch on Wednesday in Abuja, Mr. Bartholomew Suwa, Board Chairman, IFA, said that one of the fundamental challenges facing the country is the problem of in-accessibility across public and private institutions by PWDs.

“While the transition period under the Disability Act within which all public institutions shall be made accessible to PWDs came to an end in January 2024, public institutions in Nigeria, particularly Abuja, remain inaccessible to PWDs,” Suwa said.

A public affairs analyst, Mr Jide Ojo, said that despite the passage of the ‘Discrimination Against Persons With Disability (prohibition) act 2018’ popularly known as ‘Disability Act 2018’, by the former President Muhammadu Buhari, after being rejected by previous administrations, despite its passage by the National Assembly, Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) seem not keen on implementing its provisions to ease the needs of persons with special needs in their day-to-day activities.

Barrister Festus Ikechukwu Okpeh, the legal officer of the IFA and the program officer of the ACD, said that the dashboard, is like a one-stop shop for everything accessibility in Nigeria.

“And then what it does is to profile organizations, whether private or public, to see the dynamics of accessibility within these institutions. So with this dashboard, it is very easy to track the implementation of the disability act, especially in respect of accessibility and disability employment in Nigeria.

“So what it does is for organizations to leverage the dashboard to improve on their organizational practices when it comes to accessibility. Because the dashboard does not seek to name or shame any organization, but to help them.

“It actually helps them to understand where they are as far as accessibility and disability employment, which is at least five per cent of the total work force of organisations, is concerned, and then help them to make recommendations and to improve on those recommendations, to improve on their practices,” Okpeh said.

The Executive Director of the IFA and convener of the ACD, Grace Jerry, said that the key message to have an all-inclusive and an accessible Nigeria and that the compliance with the law can also earn those who implement the provisions of the law a ‘compliance certificate’.

“And when I talk about accessibility, I’m talking about physical structures of building, private and public building. We want to ensure that there is employment opportunity for persons with disability in line with the disability law, ensuring that every sector is able to employ persons with disabilities and are able to provide reasonable accommodations.

“Beside a physical environment, services within that organization should be able to enable a person with disability to function and play their role successfully. We’re also calling on hotels and businesses, private institutions, the need to be accessible to ensure that every person with disability is carried along in the entire process,” Jerry said.