A former member of the National Assembly, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has decried the inability of the Goodluck Jonathan administration to assent to the Disability Bill in spite of its passage by the two Houses of the National Assembly.
Dabiri-Erewa, who was the Chairperson, House Committee on Diaspora during the seventh session, spoke against the backdrop of the implication of non-assent to the bill for persons with disability in Nigeria.
Dabiri-Erewa, who was the sole sponsor of the bill, said it was a shame that Nigeria currently had no law in place for persons with disability.
In his own submission, a former Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor on Disability, Paul Adelabu, said it was Jonathan’s personal decision not to sign the bill into law.
In his remarks, an expert on Special Education, Olufemi Bayode, said Nigeria’s problem was implementing policies, stressing that there was no need signing the bill into law if the government was not going to implement the conditions therein.
He however, called on persons living with disability to embark on constant media campaign to press home their demand for inclusive treatment.
