By Akinwale Kasali
As the 2023 General Election draws closer, electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in partnership with the European Center for Electoral Support, ECES, is sensitizing its Disability Desk Officers with a BRIDGE Modular Training on Access and Participation of Persons With Disabilities, PWDs, in the Electoral Process.
Delivering his Speech at the Workshop, the Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner for INEC, Olusegun Agbaje, said that the BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) modular workshop is usually embraced by organizations especially Election Management Bodies, EMBs, that seek to raise the level of staff professionalism in election administration.
Agbaje added that with the Commission already preparing for the 2023 General Election, and not losing sight of the equally crucial Ekiti and Osun States Gubernatorial polls which would take place on 18th June and 16th July, 2022 respectively, the seminar is another demonstration of its resolve not to leave any stone unturned in achieving the conduct of flawless elections.
He stressed that it was the first out of the five strategic objectives of the recently unveiled INEC Strategic Plan 2022 – 2026 is to “Provide electoral operations, systems and infrastructure for the delivery of free, fair, credible and inclusive elections”. In the bid to ensure that no segment of the society is excluded from the electoral process, the Independent National Electoral Commission consistently pursues the principle of inclusiveness with uncanny vigour.
The Lagos REC said that a significant part of this was the establishment of the Disabilities Units in all its offices all over Nigeria with the aim of reaching out to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and mainstreaming them in the electoral process.
Speaking further, Agbaje said that bringing the Disabilities Desk Officers (DDOs) together in order to attend this modular training is a bold attempt by the Commission at further building the capacity of these officers in the discharge of their special official functions.
“As DDOs, you are expected to translate the skills that you will garner from this event into greater participation of the PWDs in the electoral process”.
In making sure that the PWDs are not disenfranchised, it was revealed that INEC
has put some measures in place to make the electoral process more friendly to the PWDs.
Some of these measures include; creation of regular interactive platforms, provision of Braille ballots, magnifying glasses, sign language interpreters, redesigning of voter registration centres and Polling Units (P.Us) for easy access to PWDs.
In Lagos State alone, the Commission expanded voters access to P.Us by giving approval to the conversion of 4,861 Voting Points to P.Us and many of these P.Us have strategically been brought to the door steps of PWDs.
Agbaje said it was, however, instructive for DDOs to convey the above initiatives which are some of the steps taken by Commission along this direction to PWDs in clear terms that are completely devoid of partisanship.
He added that the seminar is expected to equip the Officers with the requisite skills to make their assignment of getting the PWDs more involved in the democratic process and governance a lot easier, as the workshop is envisaged to be highly participatory and practical.
In his Speech, the Country Representative of ECES, Hamza Fassi-Fihri, said that ECES has continuously provided support to INEC in this matter, recently, also in the development of the Inclusivity Guide, as well as to our EUSDGN partners, working with the Albino Foundation and the CCD and others, also in the framework of the Electoral Act Reform.
He said ECES will continue to offer support in ensuring inclusion of Persons With Disabilities in electoral processes here in Nigeria and within our projects in other countries.
Fassi-Fihri added that global statistics indicate that Persons With Disabilities across the world, comprise between 10 – 15% of every given population, that brings to an estimated 20 – 30 million Nigerians comprising this important population.
Following this statistics, ensuring their right to vote and be voted for is one of the most visible gains in any thriving democracy, bringing to fore the need to Promoting these rights and freedom to equally participate in elections is provided in both local and international declarations, protocols and instruments as endorsed by the United Nations, African Union and the Economic Community of West African States among others. It’s also ratified by the Nigerian State.
He added that the essence of the workshop is targeted at;
- Familiarising you as PWD officers with the concept of access and participation of Persons With Disabilities and its importance towards the overall electoral process;
- Familiarising you with the International, regional and national PWD inclusion policies as well as INEC Special Voting Rights tools;
- Equipping you with strategies that would ensure the safety of these special group of persons before, during and after elections and;
- Ensuring increased inclusion and participation of PWDs in the electoral processes.
