Skip to main content

Kaduna COVID-19 Lockdown, People Living with Disabilities and Inclusion


Chairman JONAPWD, Abdulaziz Suleiman, (Right) and a colleague (Middle) in a chat with CALPED's Yusuf Goje


By SMITH WAYA

Before the index case of Corona virus (Covid-19) in Nigeria, the Kaduna state government held a public hearing on the proposed  Kaduna state social protection policy, in line with the administration's slogan of putting the people first. The Joint National Associations of Person with Disability(JONAPWD), Kaduna chapter, as the umbrella body for people living disabilities in the State, were invited to present a position paper on their expectations of the new policy.

The Disability Community took advantage of the town-hall meeting to appeal to the state government to work assiduously towards reducing poverty and hunger in their household. The Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, assured them of the state government's commitment in ensuring that no one is left behind especially people living with disabilities.

Incidently, as the State government is in the process of developing its social protection policy framework, the Governor ordered the restriction on movement in the state in a bid to curb the spread of deadly COVID-19. Consequently, the state government released the sum of five hundred million naira (N500m) for the procurement and distribution of relief materials to vulnerable groups to reduce their suffering due to the lockdown.

Upon receiving this news, many were excited that the vulnerable groups, like the people living with disabilities, would be rescued from extreme hardship compounded by the necessary lockdown.  However, during the distribution, many of them were excluded from the list of beneficiaries generated by the cluster committees.It seems that the hardworking palliative committee, headed by Secretary to State government, forgot about the persons living with disabilities in the State.

Also, the absence of the civil society organizations (CSOs) in most of the cluster committee set up to identify beneficiaries and distribute the relief materials also contributed to the exclusion of the PWDs. The CSOs under the Technical Working Group of OGP have been working with government for the past two years, in a bid to ensure transparency, accountability and restore the trust between government and citizens.

However, the state government either by omission or commission did not adequately carry CSOs along in the 8 pilot local governments; presumably, this is because the palliative committee did not recognize CSOs as the bridge between the government and the people. The CSOs would have ensured that the Disability community, which is one of the most organized among the vulnerable groups in the state, with clusters in all the wards in the state, are not largely excluded.

The question on the lips  of many observers is: if majority of the disabilities, the elderly and the widows did not get the food stuff, then who are those vulnerable people that benefited from the N500 million naira worth of food stuff in eight local government council areas?

Collaborating with CSOs, the media and other development partners, especially those ones working with the vulnerable groups in the state such as the Kaduna Social Protection Accountability Coalition (KADSPAC), OGP Technical working Group, Save the Children, Partnership to Engage, Reform & Learn (PERL) and other interested group’s or individuals will go a long way in ensuring that the real vulnerable groups benefit and the government gets the credit.

However, the Governor el-Rufai led government must be commended for its proactive measures in curbing the spread ofCOVID-19, and the good intentions towards the vulnerable groups in the state despite some shortcomings largely by some of the cluster committees in ensuring adequate inclusion of PWDs as beneficiaries.

As an Active citizen that believes in good governance, I advocate that the state government should review the concluded pilot phase by involving CSOs and media to make the process more equitable, transparent and accountability. These groups and media working around social inclusion will surely support the government in identifying the real vulnerable group’s and monitor the whole process to ensure it is result-driven.

Waya is Head, Social Inclusion & Gender Equity, Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment & Development (CALPED) in Kaduna-Nigeria.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Climate Action: Hope rises for Kaduna!

A multi-stakeholder project to plant 10 million economic trees in Kaduna state in the next six years is in the works towards enhancing the state's vegetal  cover, in accordance with the renewed global campaign against climate change. Head, Social and Enterprise Development of the Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED), Dangwa Abbas Danjuma who dropped the hint during the week in Kaduna while on a courtesy visit to the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, explained: "The Coalition is interested in driving a multi-stakeholder project to plant 10 million economic trees in Kaduna State on or before the end of the year 2025, this is towards re-greening Kaduna. We desire to do so across local governments in the state to empower citizens to take action against deforestation through community based groups with a sustainability plan to develop a robust value chain to improve livelihoods." While apprec...
1 comment
Read more

Kaduna IDPs cry out over Deplorable Conditions

By DANGWA DANJUMA L ack of basic education, sanitation, healthcare facilities and access to portable water supply have hit Gwagwada, a host community camping over 300 households displaced from fifteen villages in Chikun Local Council of the state. Speaking at the flag off of relief materials distribution for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), the Village Head of Gadani, Mr Bitrus Tsauri disclosed: “Since they arrived, the wells which have been the sure source of water for several households in the community have dried up; the solar powered borehole is only providing drips of water necessitating most residents to seek drinking water from streams. Our two public primary schools and healthcare facility are currently inadequate and may be unsafe, especially with the coronavirus pandemic that Kaduna state is still counting cases”. He confirmed that those who can farm, have been provided land to start over again; there is still the worry however, for those who are unable to farm due t...
1 comment
Read more

Quality Seeds: Farmers call for full Implementation of NASC Act

S equel to the recent signing of the National gricultural Seeds Council (NASC) Amendment Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari into law,  the National Agricultural Seeds Advocacy Group (NASAG) during the week, in Abuja, played host to farmers’ associations, cooperatives, the civil society and other critical stakeholders to map out the way forward for the nation’s agricultural sector. The participants who were drawn from the three states of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano and the FCT, among other things, reviewed engagements in the last quarter, results and challenges therefrom and developed a framework for tracking outcomes of advocacy, visa-vis improvement level so far of farmers’ access to  quality seeds,  with special emphasis on timely implementations of recommendations from NASAG’s dialogue with farmers. Representatives of the three states of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) took turns to outline the inroads they have made in the period...
Post a Comment
Read more

PERL trains Planning Officers, Citizens on Accountability, Service Delivery

  As Stakeholders review 2022 Local Government Draft Budget Cross-section of participants at the engagement during a session   By EDDY OCHIGBO, Kaduna  I n its sustained drive to enhance accountability and seamless service delivery at the local government level in Kaduna state, Partnership to Engage and Learn in collaboration with Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM), on Monday October 25, 2021, organized a two-day technical session to increase the capacity and technical expertise of citizen groups and planning officers in the state.  To this end, the Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM), a collaborative initiative of the Ministry for Local Government Affairs, Civil Society partners and Partnership to Engage, Reform & Learn (PERL/FCDO), working as technical working groups to strengthen governance at the grassroots, have reviewed the Kaduna state 2022 budget with trend analysis, observations and recommendations. The review of the ₦1,134,051...
Post a Comment
Read more