By Anthony Ojo.
Judicial officers and law enforcement agencies have been urged to put necessary measures in place to ensure that people with disabilities have easy access to justice.
A Resource Person, Mr. Bukola Idowu gave the advice in Ado-Ekiti at a workshop for officers of Judiciary and Law enforcement agencies on disability inclusion and access to justice system for persons with disabilities organised by The Albino Foundation, EU/SDGN.
Mr. Idowu explained that it was high time the judiciary and law enforcement agencies started considering the physically challenged persons in their programmes, for them to have equal access to justice like their able bodied counterparts.
He said this would also make them enjoy democracy, which is meant for all members of the society.
In another presentation, a Management Consultant, Mr. Dare Adeoye noted that everyone has one disability or the other, hence the physically challenged should not be discriminated against.
Mr. Adeoye advocated the full implementation of the law prohibiting crime against persons with disabilities, while calling for new ones to protect their rights and ensure increased participation in electoral and political process.
In his welcome address, the Project Supervisor for the Albino Foundation, EU/SDGN in Osun, Ekiti and FCT, Mr. Kehinde Ogunbiyitan said the objective of the workshop was to build the capacity of stakeholders to increase the access of people with disability to justice in electoral and political matters.
Mr. Ogunbiyitan pointed out that the major purpose of establishing the foundation was to champion the course of people with disabilities to ensure that they have equal rights in the society.
In their goodwill messages sent to the workshop, the Chief Judge of Ekiti state, Justice Ayodeji Daramola and the Ekiti state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Mr. Wale Fapohunda said efforts were on to protect the rights of the physically challenged persons, part of which is the passage of the discrimination against people with disabilities prohibition law.
The representatives of the Commissioner of Police Ekiti state Command, Mr. Emmanuel Gambo and that of the NSCDC Commandant, Mr. Iyaniwura Oluwanifemi commended the Albino Foundation for speaking for the physically challenged in Nigeria.
On their parts, the Executive Secretary, Office for Disability Affairs, Mrs. Olabisi Fatoba, Ekiti State Coordinator, National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Abiodun Adigun who spoke through Mr. Bayo Babalola and the FIDA Chairperson in the state, Mrs. Toyin Odunayo promised their support for the Albino Foundation to achieve its aims.
