The Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) has called for the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the advisory board of host communities’ trust funds, under Petroleum Industry Act.(PIA), in the Niger Delta.
Mr. David Anyaele, the Executive Director of the CCD, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), made the call at the end of a three-day workshop, organised by the group in Port Harcourt, Rivers on Saturday.
The workshop was themed, ‘Ending Barriers Against Niger Deltans with Disabilities’
Anyaele explained that the workshop was aimed at sensitising the PWDs on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and the development of a demand charter for their inclusion in the PIA benefit structures in Rivers.
He decried the situation where persons with disabilities were not usually considered when there were benefiting interventions in Rivers and the Niger Delta region.
He faulted several provisions of the PIA which expressly neglected persons with disabilities while it made provisions for women, youths and others.
The executive director emphasised that PWDs must be considered while carrying out needs assessment by host communities for the implementation of the PIA.
“People with disabilities are not included in oil benefits interventions in the Niger Delta region; when interventions are made, they are forgotten.
‘’Sometimes, they are remembered on charity when they protest and the charity is not sustainable.
“We feel it’s important that we use the instrument to promote and encourage host communities to respond to the provisions of the PIA in a manner that does not leave out persons with disabilities.
Anyaele said that PIA also provided for hosts community trusts, management, advisory and assessment of the needs with particular mention of women and youths issues.
He said that although the Act was silent on PWDs, they still wanted to intervene since when oil spillage or oil-related damages occurred, it would not discriminate or spared the PWDs.
Anyaele advocated for the creation of a disability commission in Rivers, as applicable in the nation and some states, to serve as a mechanism to support the government in coordinating its response to the PWDs.
He, however, urged the PWD community in Rivers to deepen their knowledge of the PIA in order to take advantage of its low hanging fruits.
Also speaking, the Executive Director of FAECARE Foundation, Ndifreke Andrew-Essien, called for the amendment of PIA act to specifically include PWDs as the 2021 Act, currently operational, failed to do so.
Andrew-Essien said the amendment was necessary to avoid any room for doubt in terms of implementation.
According to him, PIA allows for funding of community structures and projects.
‘’We are advocating that the PIA, through needs assessment, should stipulate that all community projects funded under the Act must be designed to be accessible to all community members, including the PWDs,”Andrew-Essien added.
She also appealed to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, (NUPRC), to ensure that their regulatory reforms would inclusive of PWDs.
Andrew-Essien noted that 2012 Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities Prohibition Act, operational in the state, had become obsolete, adding that it was a welfare enhancement law and not rights-based.
She supported the calls for an PWD commission, expressing hope that such a commission would get speedy legislative backing immediately the state political situations normalised.
Similarly, Mr Nwosu Justice, the former Rivers Secretary of the Joint Association of Persons With Disabilities, lamented that over the years, Rivers government’s response to issues concerning PWDs had been abysmally poor.
Justice used the opportunity to call on the Rivers government to domesticate the 2018 National Disability Law
