The Kaduna State Government says it will soon commence implementation of the Disability Act to strengthen equality and mainstream persons with disabilities. Alhaji Zubairu Muktar, Special Adviser to Gov. Uba Sani on NGO matters, said that the act would also help to remove barriers in accessing services in public and private sectors. Muktar spoke at the end of a strategic round table discussion and orientation of media houses on disability reporting in Zaria. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the act was passed and signed by former Gov. Nazeer El-Rufai in Oct. 2021. The programme was organised by Lafiya Project, a UK support in health transformation in Nigeria, in collaboration with SightSavers International. Muktar, who expressed dismay over non-implementation of the Act, which had been signed into law since 2021, explained that he would meet with the governor within the week over the implementation. He, therefore, restated the commitment of the current administration to ensure that persons with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone. Earlier, Mr Monday Okwoli, Disability Inclusion Adviser, Sight Savers, an NGO, commended the state governor for the initiative. Okwoli expressed the commitments of the NGO to strengthen partnership with the state government on the implementation of the Act. According to him, available statistics from the National Demographic Health Survey indicated that about 9.7 per cent of Nigerians had different form of disabilities. 'This category of people with such a huge number cannot be relegated. Many of them lack access to public services such as education, health, empowerment and security empowerment programmes, among others,'' he said. Okwoli said one of the aims of the orientation was to build the capacity of the media to know the stigma and discrimination faced by persons with abilities while accessing public services. He added that the programme was also aimed at getting the nod from the media so that they could come up with programmes that would amplify more visibility for persons with disabilities and ameliorate their challenges. 'Our belief is that, when there is adequate right information in the public domain, the stigma and discrimination faced by people with disabilities while accessing services would be eroded,'' he said. Hajiya Rakiya Umar, Executive Secretary, Kaduna State Disability Affairs Board, commended the organisers of the programme and described the orientation workshop as educating and informative. The executive secretary said implementation of the Disability Act would reduce barriers experienced by the person with disabilities and scale-up access to many services rendered by the board to its immediate constituency. According to her, this action further denotes that more persons with disabilities will have improved access to empowerment from different centres of the board across the state. 'By implication, some of the people with disabilities, who are on the streets, would be rehabilitated,'' she observed. Source : News Agency of Nigeria