The Inclusive Friends Association (IFA), a disability focused organisation, has tasked President Muhammadu Buhari led administration to further empower the country’s social protection system to address Disability Based Violence and cater for the needs of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the country.
Making this call at a three-day cohort fellowship programme of the ‘Amplifying Voices Project’ in Lagos, Executive Director, IFA, Grace Jerry asked the government to implement the provision of the Disability Act that provides five percent employment for PWDs.
She explained that job opportunities for PWDs and other measures would limit the exposure of persons with disabilities to Disability Based Violence and give means to seek justice when the need arises.
As part of the three days event, IFA under the Amplifying Voices project with funding support from Ford Foundation, trained 20 young PWDs from Lagos on how to tackle disability-based violence which participants tagged as a menace.
Ms Jerry said the objective of the project was to train young persons with disabilities from selected states of the federation on how to use dogged and strategic advocacies to tackle Gender-Based Violence perpetrated against Persons with disabilities.
She called for the need to enlighten more PWDs on what to do when they are being violated and how to go about it.
She also called for the need to build the capacity of law enforcement agencies to address attitudinal, physical or systemic barriers persons with disabilities face, when trying to access their services.
Jerry thereafter tasked media outfits to take it upon themselves as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility to report issues relating to PWDs to enlighten the public and make them more aware and concerned with their issues, such that they no longer stigmatize a survivor of any form of violence or their family.
She advocated for free education for persons with disabilities of school age, saying their capacity should be built around defense mechanisms and how to seek redress.
