An advocacy group, Hope Inspired Foundation for Women and Youths with Disabilities (HIFWYD), has launched the Local Council Disability Framework in Oyo State.

The Disability Framework is designed to provide local councils in Nigeria with the appropriate institutional capacity and strategies for achieving disability inclusion in all aspects of their operations, programmes, and interventions.

It aims to establish appropriate institutional structures that will be directly responsible for the administration of disability affairs within local government councils.

The launch, which took place at Damjay Hotels and Suites, Ikolaba-Agodi GRA, Ibadan, was supported by the Disability Rights Fund.

It was gathered that the document was developed in response to the near absence of institutional capacity in local government councils to support the development of disability-inclusive communities in their localities.

The launch was attended by senior government officials, members of the PWD (Persons with Disabilities) community, religious leaders, and other stakeholders.

Speaking at the event, the Secretary of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Rosiline Oniyide, said the programme is meant to enable persons living with disabilities in Oyo State to experience a transformation beyond imagination.

“At the local government level, we need this kind of framework to enable us to work, so that our people will not have to go through the stress of lodging complaints or demanding their rights at faraway places like the state secretariat. When these frameworks are implemented at the local level, it will be easier to access freedom and rights,” she said.

“So, we want to implore our Special Assistants at the local government level to approach this work with commitment. You are there to represent people with disabilities, and this is one of the assignments you must carry out for us,” Oniyide added.

The Team Lead, Oluchi Nwite, emphasised the need for dedication in ensuring that communities become disability-sensitive and that people with disabilities are allowed to contribute meaningfully to activities in their respective communities.

The Chairman of the Advocacy Cluster Group, Mr Yusuff Olatunji, also stressed the need for greater inclusion of PWDs.

Similarly, the Oyo State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Mrs Oluwatoyin Balogun; the Executive Assistant to the Governor on Disability Matters, Mr Timothy Femi; and the representative of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kingsley Soremi, said the launch was fundamental to the inclusion of PWDs in governance at the grassroots level.

The commissioner, represented by the Director of Rehabilitation in the ministry, Mr Taiwo Ibilade, said: “We are all disabled in one way or another. It is only the degree of disability that is different. But it does not make anyone redundant.”

The Director-General of the Oyo State Agency for Persons With Disabilities, Ayodele Adekanmbi, who was also represented by Mr Timothy Femi, reaffirmed Governor Seyi Makinde’s commitment to the inclusion of PWDs in governance across the state.

Also speaking, the Chairman of JONAPWD, Mr Femi Ajulo, called for unity among persons with disabilities.