The Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) has called for the inclusion of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) as beneficiaries of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
CCD’s Acting Director, Mr Godwin Unumeri made the call during the first day of a three-day workshop on the inclusion of PWDs in PIA benefit structures, held in Owerri, on Wednesday.
Unumeri said that the workshop, organised with support from Ford Foundation, aimed to promote disability rights, with a view to giving PWDs a voice in the community.
He mentioned the non-discriminatory effects of oil and gas exploration in the Niger Delta region to include wide range water, air and land pollution and loss of biodiversity as well as loss of traditional sources of livelihood such as fish farming.
He noted that since the PIA made provisions for the compensation of oil producing communities by settlors using three per cent of petroleum income derivatives, it would be unfair not to include PWDs who, by virtue of disabilities, are naturally subjected to more sufferings, in the benefit structure.
“ Since the effects of oil and gas exploration are disability-inclusive, benefit structures should also be disability-inclusive. Nobody should be left behind “, he said.
Also, a Senior Programme Officer of the CCD, Ms Florence Attah, urged Civil Society Organisations and the media to lobby for inclusive budgeting and to track budget utilisation to capture the interests of PWDs.
She added that PWDs should not be viewed from the charity or religious models, but, rather from the lens of reality.
This, she said , would enable stakeholders in the Niger-Delta view their right as “legitimate rather than merely an act of compassion “.
Speaking, Chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities in Imo, Mr Chidubem Ekwelem, called for all hands to be on deck in the pursuit of disability rights.
According to him, “a lot of PWDs were not born disabled and nobody could tell when an accident could disfigure anyone “, hence the need for inclusion.
C-Advocate reports that the workshop was attended by CSOs of interest as well as traditional rulers in Imo.