Minister urges more commitment to local production of Assistive Devices

Stakeholders in the humanitarian space have been urged to make more commitment to ensure that Persons With Disability in Nigeria have access to Assistive Technologies.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq made the call in Abuja, Nigeria at the Validation meeting on the Draft National Roadmap on Local Production of Assistive Technologies for Persons With Disability, PWDs.

Umar-Farouq said the Ministry in collaboration with its partners have been working to improve the lives of PWDs which aimed at specific objectives to greatly fetch better living outcomes for them.

According to her, ”access to Assistive Technology is an essential component of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs on Universal Health Coverage which needs to be integrated into efforts to attain its 3.8 target.”

“As you are aware, Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, UNCRPD, which commits member States to ensuring that PWDs have access to affordable Assistive Technology, mobility aids and indeed made it a human rights obligation that every Member State must fulfil,” She noted.

Umar-Farouq however noted with concern that most people who really need the Technology find it difficult to access them.

ALSO READ: President Buhari pledges better Policing for Nigeria

She said; ” Largely because Assistive Devices and Technology are not readily available and even if available, are not affordable. Not because Nigeria lacks the expertise, but because our local manufacturers are limited to scaling up the production of quality Assistive Devices due to the persistent use of obsolete equipment and lack of basic capital to strengthen production which makes most product often inappropriate for the intended users.”

She noted that when PWDs cannot easily access Assistive Technologies at most affordable rates, they are often the excluded, isolated and locked into poverty thereby the impact of disease and disability in a person, their family and the society in general.

“The Government and all and Sundry must therefore be committed to making these devices available and affordable to those that need them so that through the use of Assistive Technology, barriers are removed, thereby enhancing their physical and mental capabilities which in turn will lead to greatly improved quality of life,” the Minister explained.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Nura Alkali.

The Permanent Secretary, Nura Alkali who was represented by the Director Special Needs Department of the Ministry, Nkechi Onwukwe said ”the Assistive Technologies play a vital role in maintaining and improving disability functioning areas of Vision, Hearing, Cognitive, Mobility and Communication, thereby promoting the well-being and livelihood of PWDs ”

“Further more the Assistive Technologies have a huge potential to support PWDs in their daily lives. The procurement of the products, their accessories, spare parts and other related services has equally been found to be a good business venture,” Alkali explained.

Also present at the validation meeting was the Assistant Director, Special Needs Education of the Federal Ministry of Education, Aisuedion Abel who tasked the Technical Working Group to ensure that the job is done with all sense of responsibility for the socio-economic growth of the nation.

Objective of the Roadmap;

• To Provide guidance for production, procurement and distribution of Assistive Technologies in Nigeria;
• Ensure quality control in Local Production of Assistive Technologies for PWDs in Nigeria;
• Mainstream Local Production of Assistive Technologies in innovative and industrial development in the country;
• Help in providing enabling environment for employment creation;
• Ensure availability and affordability of Assistive Technologies for PWDs in Nigeria.

The draft roadmap captures both the global and Nigeria context of Assistive Technologies X-rays the current situation of PWDs in Nigeria and that of Assistive Technologies as well as its producers from the perspective of demography, human rights, disability situation, health, stigma, disaster risk management and monitoring and evaluation of the change.

Mercy Chukwudiebere