INEC Urged to Make Election Materials, Facilities Accessible for PWDs

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

The Executive Director of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, (CCD), Mr. David Anyaele, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to make election materials and facilities accessible for People Living With Disabilities (PWDs).

Anyaele made the call at a virtual meeting, which was attended by various members of the Civil Society Organisations (CSO), key stakeholders from the development partners, heads of organisations of persons with disabilities and members of the media.

The CCD’s executive director, who presented the findings from the assessment of INEC preparations for PWDs for the 2022 Osun State Governorship Election, said that INEC should make available election materials which include, Form EC40H at the polling units.

He stated further that assistive resources such as sign language interpreters, tactile ballot jackets, braille ballot paper and magnifying lenses should also be made available on the day of election.

According to him, “INEC should also train ad-hoc staff adequately to appreciate their roles and responsibilities to PWD voters,” saying that findings from previous election observations showed that “an average INEC ad-hoc staff do not understand what assistive devices for PWDs means.

“Ensure the mainstreaming of PWDs issues in public sensitisations to reverse negative public perceptions and attitudes towards them. The level of engagement of INEC with the disability community in the state is impressive. However, the general public needs to be carried along as well.

“INEC should provide personal sign language interpreters at the polling units to minimise communication gap between the ad-hoc staff at the Polling Units and the deaf voters.

“INEC should mainstream issues of concern in the development of security architecture for the election. Sustain their collaboration with the security agencies to reassure the electorate of their safety and security, to down tension and brace up security challenges especially in some flashpoints to ensure accessible, credible, free, fair, and peaceful elections.”

He also said that the Osun State Government should adopt the National Disability Law to ensure the protection of the PWDs.

In their separate goodwill messages, the co-Convener of Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Mr. James Ugochukwu, and Chief of Party SCALE, Mrs. Lydia Odeh, urged the INEC to provide enough assistive devices and materials needed for the PWDs to vote.

The CCD is an organisation that campaign for equal voting access for PWDs.