Poorly implemented, the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Act, like many other laws, often exists only on paper and fails to protect those who are physically challenged.<\/b><\/p>\n
Physically disabled people remain a neglected part of society, often stigmatised, discriminated against and excluded from accessing basic social services.<\/p>\n
Although the fundamental rights of all citizens \u2013 including disabled individuals \u2013 are enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Republic of Nigeria, people with physical challenges say that, like many other laws, the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Act often exists only on paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cPassed in 2018, the Act is poorly implemented and has not been able to make a visible impact as far as the rights of physically challenged persons are concerned,\u201d said Mohammed Abubakar, the chairperson of the Borno State chapter of the National Association of Persons with Physical Disabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of the rights the law was drafted to protect still remain unenforced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abubakar was responding to complaints by individuals who said that they were unable to rent a house in Maiduguri, the state capital, because they were physically disabled.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiscrimination against the physically disabled is not new or uncommon. Even though the right to freedom from discrimination is recognised in the international community as a human right and enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, physically disabled individuals are often victimised.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are stigmatised and experience barriers due to restriction of participation,\u201d he said. \u201cThere have been many cases of landlords refusing to rent houses to persons with disabilities even though, by doing so, they are breaking the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abubakar said the discrimination was not motivated by a lack of finance.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our members was prepared to pay more than \u20a6100,000 per annum to rent a house. It was only when the house agent or landlord discovered the prospective tenant was physically disabled that the deal fell through.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen challenged, the landlord claimed physically disabled people ruined the structures of a house, including the toilet facilities, and he accused them of being unable to keep the environment tidy.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, these accusations are patently untrue. They are baseless and unfounded \u2013 and they can have a devastating effect on the mindset of a disabled person. A disability can take away many aspects of an individual\u2019s identity, leaving them questioning who they are, what their value is and where they fit in society. It\u2019s easy to start feeling useless. Depression and other mental disorders are common.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abubakar said that the northeast of the country \u2013 and Borno State specifically \u2013 had the highest number of persons with physical disabilities, mainly as a result of the 15-year insurgency.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Borno State government needs to investigate this matter and take decisive action against the mistreatment of and discrimination against physically disabled persons by landlords and house agents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government should provide houses or quarters purposely built for people living with physical disabilities. Failing that, it should provide land on the outskirts of towns within the state where disabled persons can at least build a thatch house or construct a tent where they can live with their families without any discrimination and mistreatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiscrimination is an abuse of physically disabled persons,\u201d Abubakar said.<\/p>\n
Babagana Kolo is physically disabled. He told RNI that he had agreed to pay \u20a670,000 a year to rent a house in Maiduguri. However, when he went to view the house, two tenants already living there saw that he was disabled and immediately spoke to the landlord, convincing him to change his mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as they saw me, they contacted the landlord. The next thing I knew, the landlord told me I could not rent the house and he refunded my money. He said the two tenants had complained because I was physically disabled.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, the level of discrimination has reached the point that, even if you have money, you cannot rent a house if you are physically disabled. It does not seem to matter whether an individual is blind, deaf or dumb. If you are physically impaired, you are treated like a person with leprosy,\u201d Kolo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is time for the government to step up to stop landlords from abusing physically disabled people. It\u2019s discrimination and it undermines the rights of physically challenged individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yahaya Alhaji Dunoma, a legal practitioner based in Maiduguri, said the fundamental human rights of all Nigerians \u2013 including those with physical disabilities \u2013 were enshrined in the constitution and were irrevocable.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery Nigerian has a right to freedom from discrimination. No one may be discriminated against based on their ethnic group, place of origin, gender, religion or political opinion, or the circumstances of their birth. This, of course, includes all persons with disabilities, whatever the disability may be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dunoma said there was no reason for anyone to mistreat \u2013 or discriminate against \u2013 a person who was physically challenged.<\/p>\n
He said a physically disabled person should not be restricted from participating in any business transaction, including renting a house.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n SHETTIMA LAWAN MONGUNO<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Poorly implemented, the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Act, like many other laws, often exists only on paper and fails to protect those who are physically challenged. Physically disabled people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":52873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52874,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52872\/revisions\/52874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}