Oluwatobi Adu 
ABUJA, Nigeria – UNESCO has called for the active participation of persons with disabilities in shaping national policies, saying their inclusion is essential to building a more equitable and inclusive Nigeria.
The call was made on Wednesday in Abuja during a consultation on disability policy, data and institutional frameworks organised under UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformation (MOST) Programme.
UNESCO Representative to Nigeria, Isaias da Rosa, described disability inclusion as a human rights concern, a social priority and a development challenge requiring urgent attention.
He said UNESCO supports evidence-based approaches capable of producing inclusive, participatory and sustainable solutions to social challenges. “This requires government institutions, organisations of persons with disabilities, civil societies, researchers and academia, development partners, the private sector and the media to act,” he said.
He said the absence of accurate data could make it difficult to identify the scale of challenges facing persons with disabilities and design appropriate interventions. “When it comes to disability inclusion, we need data. The second idea is that participation is legitimacy. Policies that serve persons with disabilities must be shaped through them,” Irakli said.
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