NAN-H-128
Disability
By Kate Obande-Okewu
Abuja, Feb.16, 2017 (NAN) Dr Samuel Ankeli, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Disability Matters, says the Federal Government is planning to address the challenges facing students living with disabilities in Nigerian schools.
Ankeli said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
He stated that the plan would focus on increasing access to education for the People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs), noting that they were the most marginalised in the country.
He added that educating them would enhance their self confidence, explaining that their orientation needed to be changed to harness their potential.
The Senior Special Assistant told NAN that part of their plans was to ensure Braille materials were made available and at a subsidised rate for the blind students to alleviate their suffering.
“The disabled persons in Nigeria need orientation that they have a lot of potential to be harnessed and should not be object of pity.
“We need to increase their access to education and we are putting a committee together very soon to address this.
The committee will work on the educational sector as a whole and it is going to be a holistic approach.
“One Braille machine is N180,000 why should it be hard in buying these machines and distribute to all the blind students; governments are buying laptops and distributing to civil servants, who are being paid salaries what is bad in doing same for Braille?’’
According to him, the producers of Braille are coming into the country in August for a meeting on how to assemble the machine in Nigeria including wheel chairs instead of importing them at exorbitant prices.
He added that assembling these machines in this country was essential because Nigeria has a large consumers for these products.
The aide noted that two per cent of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) budget was meant for the special needs schools.
According to him, the money is not being used for its purpose rather the money is being used by principals to build dining halls.
He disclosed that the PLWDs wants producers of electronics to focus on “assistive technology’’ by generating phones and laptops that can talk to enable the blind easily operate these devices.
Ankeli also urged journalists to prioritise issues of people living with disabilities in their reportage to attract attention and aid to them
He stated that the World Bank and the UN can decide to provide them with Braille machines and hearing aids if they were given adequate reportage by the media.
He added that his office would embark on an awareness programme on disability issues and organise workshops for the special needs schools.
He said that the workshop would serve as a platform for the school authorities to come and talk about their experiences and challenges.
He, however, called on Nigerians to be of help and project the right attitude towards anybody living with disability in their environment. (NAN)
KTE/AFA
Edited by Felix Ajide