Nigeria: Disabled, Physically Challenged Or Differently Abled

22 April 2008
opinion

The disabled: people with hearing impairment, the blind, the lame, the mentally-retarded, lepers, people with HIV/AIDS, etc, are usually the butt of social challenges and discrimination in most societies. Nigeria has her fair share of these special groups, and has not done anythiny to tap the intrinsic endowments of these citizens. In the face of the failure of people with physical abilities to deliver democratic dividends, KUNLE SOMORIN explores the possibility of turning to the physically challenged.

Section 42 and 43 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria is exclusively dedicated to "rights to freedom from discrimination". It reels out an avalanche of grounds to protect citizens seen as vulnerable: sex, religion, political opinion, ethnic groups etc, but it was silent on disabilities: physical and mental.

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