By Lanre Oloyede
As part of measures towards realization of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Needs and Equal Opportunities, Hon. Mohammed Abba Isa, has called for co-operation and collaboration between government and stakeholders in the disability community to provide access to educational and digital materials for the visually impaired persons in Nigeria.
Hon. Abba Isa stated this Monday in Abuja at an awareness seminar on equal access to educational and digital materials for the visually impaired persons organized by the Nigeria Association of the Blind (NAB) in collaboration with the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Needs and Equal Opportunities (OSSAP SNEO) with sponsorship from World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
According to the organizers, the seminar was designed to create awareness among government institutions , Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), publishers, libraries on the need for equal access to educational and digital materials for the visually and persons who are print-disabled.
In his remarks, the Senior Presidential aide submitted that it has become imperative to make heavy investment in creating enabling environment for access to inclusive education so that everyone can learn under the same conducive environment regardless of disability status.
The SSAP noted that though there are different categories of disabilities with peculiar challenges, however the visually impaired persons battle with multiple challenges that require deliberate interventions.
Hon. Abba Isa lamented that despite the fact that in the current digital era, access to educational and digital materials empowers individuals to learn, grow, thrive and contribute meaningfully to socio-economic development of the nation, however, persons that are visually impaired or print disabled are often faced with daunting challenges in accessing these materials.
The Presidential aide maintained that the administration of President Tinubu remains resolute in promoting inclusivity and accessibility with respect to educational and digital materials for persons with visual impairments and print disabilities in line with the Marakesh Treaty and is willing to engage further with any stakeholder in this direction.
The Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu further charged participants to note that the ultimate vision of every society is to attain the sustainable development goal, and as such, Nigeria must not be left behind in the global move to digitize education for the visually impaired.
The SSAP, who maintained that this can only be achieved through effective collaboration between government and stakeholders, added that his office is open for such collaborations.
“We need to invest in cooperation and collaboration. All OPDs, CSOs, donors, development partners, philanthropists, private sector organizations must join hands together to create awareness on access to education to visually impaired persons in line with global treaties.
“I’ll like to inform you that my office is open for collaboration. Mr President has mandated me to liaise with MDAs and sub-national governments to ensure that disability matters are effectively mainstreamed into the activities and programs of government in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda, in line with the national disablity law and in line with global treaties on rights of persons with disabilities,” he said.
While commending the stewardship of the National Association of the Blind ably led by its President , Mr. Stanley Onyebuchi, for the timelines of the seminar, Hon. Abba Isa stressed the need for massive awareness creation on the implementation of the National Disability Act, 2018 which prohibits discrimination in any form against Persons With Disabilities.
“This Program is timely, we need to invest in creating awareness and access to education, that is, enabling environment has to be provided in terms of assistive device and materials that can assist the visually impaired persons across the country to learn on equal basis with other community of persons with disabilities,” Hon. Abba Isa stated.
Also speaking at the event, the registrar of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board(JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who was represented by Head of Disability desk, Mrs Basirat Agbabiaka, announced that the board has approved the conversion of the examination preparation booklets from written text to audio-visual materials for easy access and assimilation by visually impaired candidates.
In his goodwill message delivered by the Chief Copyright Officer, Mrs Tina Huzi, the Director-General, Nigeria Copyright Commission, Dr. John O. Assein, explained that the Commission, in recent years, has been at the forefront of championing efforts to promote access to published works by the visually challenged and print disabled persons.
Dr. Assein charged participants to use the Seminar as an opportunity to inspire change, foster collaboration, and build a more inclusive and equitable access to educational and digital materials for the visually impaired persons.
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