People with disabilities have expressed concern about their members being barred from holding political office owing to the excessive fees required by political parties.
The PWDs made this known at a Twitter space for PWDs candidates who ran in the 2023 general elections.
Candidates spoke about their experiences and difficulties in the Twitter environment organized by Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) and titled: 2023 elections and PWD candidate experience sharing: investigating myth, issues, and solutions.
According to Yakubu Abdulhakeem, YPP candidate for Okene II House of Assembly, the political landscape in Nigeria is extremely commercialized.
“In Nigeria, applicants are evaluated based on their physical condition and economic strength.” “With the cost of form, it’s as if they’re excluding us from the system,” Abdulkareem explained.
Jide Ojo, a development specialist, argued that INEC may begin implementing the Act by guaranteeing that 5% of ad hoc employees assigned for electoral tasks are PWDs.
“When you do training for ad hoc personnel, offer us the chance to engage in coming to assist with the training, particularly in terms of how to mainstream people with disabilities in the voting process.” There is a 5% employment provision—we don’t know if INEC followed through by guaranteeing that 5% of the roughly 1.5 million ad hoc personnel employed before of the 2023 general elections were people with disabilities.
“According to the Disability Act, 5% of all jobs should be earmarked for people with disabilities.” “Those with albinism and those on crutches can still serve as presiding officers and assistant presiding officers,” he remarked.
According to Stephen Idoko, a Programme Manager at IFA, while INEC committed to engage PWDs as ad hoc workers, observation suggests that the commission fell short of the 5% statutory minimum.
