Persons living With Disabilities (PWDs) have demanded for inclusion in the electoral process at all levels, decrying that about 27.3 of its population is too large to be ignored.
This was the centre of discussion yesterday at the first edition of Access Nigeria: Disability Votes Matter Stakeholders Quarterly Roundtable on Inclusive Elections in Nigeria, organised by the Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) in Abuja.
Its Executive Director, Grace Jerry, called on the National Assembly to remove every physical barrier faced by PWD’s on election days, to enable them vote without assistance in line with Nigeria’s secret ballot system.
“The National Assembly should immediately amend section 56(2) of the electoral act to include the provision of Braille or tactile ballots and off -site voting mandatory to help increase the part of PWD’s inthe electoral process,” she demanded.
She further called on INEC to strengthen its utilisation of forms EC 4OH to collect PWD’s data, segregated by type of disability on election days and publicly share the data.
“This will enable stakeholders plan initiatives like voter education to improve the part of PWD’s during elections,” she maintained.
Responding, the Chairman, House Committee on Electoral and Political Parties Matters, Hajiya Aishatu Dukku, noted the need to establish legal rights of PWD’s as bonafide members of the society, in secular activities which includes the electoral process.
She assured that the National Assembly will do its best to ensure the barriers faced by PWD’s during elections are addressed.
