All federal agencies must implement the discrimination against persons with disability law, by allocating five percent of their workforce to them.
Chairperson of the House of Representatives committee on disabilities, Princess Miriam Onuoha, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja.
She disclosed this during a one-day round table organized by the INCLUSION magazine and The Albinism Foundation, themed, “confronting the challenges of the safety of persons with albinism.”
Onuoha stressed that the prohibition act does not exempt any organization from implementing any part of the act or discriminating in the course of recruitment or otherwise.
Responding to statements by Nigerian Army on why persons with disabilities are exempted from applying to be recruited into the military, Onuoha pointed out that the Army has other units that are not combatant or require the use of arms.
“The 5% allocation for recruitment is sacrosanct and mandatory for all agencies, persons with disabilities can be exempted from those strenuous training and given certain privileges as it is readily done in the NYSC where persons collect exemption letters,” she said.
The Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission, Mr Anthony Ojukwu, in his paper presentation noted that there were a lot of legal framework already in existence that protects the rights of persons with albinism.
The Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, Mr James Lalu, pointed out that with the emergence of climate change, most weather conditions are dangerous to persons with disabilities.
Mr Jake Epelle, the Chief Executive Officer of the Albinism Foundation commended the INCLUSION magazine for this laudable event and added that one of the greatest challenges of the persons with albinism is that they do not demand for their rights.
“Asking for extra time during examinations has already been approved by the ministry of education, but unfortunately persons with albinism are not aware of this and so do not demand for it,” he said.
Earlier, Major Nasiru Sabo of the Nigerian Army in the roundtable discussion, revealed that most of the recent passed laws have not yet been communicated to the men of the services.
Representative of Lawyers with disability (ALDIN), Florence Marcus, called for positive steps to assist persons with albinism address their health challenges.
