Education

The Joint Admission and Matriculations Board, JAMB, says Persons Living With Disabilities, PLWDs, who wish to sit for the 2024/2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination can register at no cost.

The JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, made this known while rolling out the registration process for interested candidates across the country.

While announcing that registration for the 2024 matriculation examination will commence on Monday, 15th January 2024, Oloyede said JAMB will issue free application documents to all categories of Persons Living With Disability as a form of support.

“To support the PLWD, JAMB will issue free application documents to all categories of Persons Living with Disabilities in the advertisement for the 2024 UTME/DE,” he said.

Oloyede noted that measures have been put in place to ensure a smooth exercise for all candidates and audio books will be provided for all blind candidates.

The registrar said the development was a digital adaptation of the traditional reading book, noting that it will come in popular audio formats such as MP3, WMV, and WMA which will be compatible with all devices that can stream audio records.

He said the suggestion for the provision of audiobooks was made at the first National Conference on Equal Opportunity of Access to Higher Education in Nigeria.

Apart from the blind candidates, other groups to benefit from the free registration according to the examination body are people with Down syndrome, Autism, Dyslexia disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

 “The following categories of candidates will now be listed under the disability group: Down syndrome, Autism, Dyslexia disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),” he said.

Punch / Titilayo Kupoliyi

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Politics

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos State has slated July 25 and 26 for Persons Living with Disabilities (PLWDs) to register.

Eight special centres have been designated for this purpose across the five Ibile divisions of the state.

They are Ikorodu Central Local Government area (Ikorodu); Ability and Disability Centre, Ajara (Badagry); Old Secretariat (Ikeja); Onikan Youth Centre (Lagos Island); Sports Recreation Centre (Epe); Idi-Araba Correctional Centre; Teslim Balogun Stadium and Correctional Centre, Oko-Baba.

The exercise will be done in collaboration with the Lagos State Office of Disability Affairs, (LASODA).

At a news conference, Head of INEC Voter Registry, Muyiwa Yusuf, said the commission has put in place special consideration for the registration of PLWDs. He noted that ‘the two days will be well taken care of so that they are well captured’.

Yusuf said: “The two days are for people with disabilities to register so we can have them in our database and ensure they are not disenfranchised. There is a biometric machine to capture those who cannot thumbprint, while braille will be provided for those with visual impairment and magnifying glasses for those with albinism. The polling units will also be wheelchair accessible.”
While lamenting that of the six million persons registered in Lagos for 2023 elections, over one million PVCs have not been collected. Yusuf urged concerned persons to go to their local government areas for collection.

He hinted that over 75,000 PLWDs were captured in the entire country since the electoral body began the CVR exercise for the 2023 elections.

The General Manager of LASODA, Dare Dairo, lamented that PLWDs were affected by social poverty because of exclusion, but said this informed why Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration set aside the two days to allow them to register.
“In collaboration with INEC, we have created special centres across Lagos so that PLWDs can register and revalidate their PVCs. We have designated INEC officials at these centres and carried out a feasibility study. It is for the PLWDs to take advantage of this window to get their PVCs for the 2023 elections.”

The Nation/ Oluwayemisi Owonikoko

Foreign

A woman who flew to Ukraine via Poland to rescue her paralysed brother fears “the forgotten causalities of war” are people with disabilities.

Olena Florek, from Staffordshire, travelled to Warsaw to try to get a UK visa for brother Volodymyr.

After waiting 24 hours for it to be processed, she then made her way to Lviv to meet her mother and brother.

The Home Office said its visa processes had been streamlined to enable more Ukrainians to come to the UK.

Mrs Florek’s brother requires 24/7 care as he is paralysed from the neck down.

He also has cerebral palsy and is unable to speak, after contracting meningitis as a young boy.

“When it is war, not many people talk about those with mental health [issues], people with disabilities, care homes; we don’t hear or see or know, but they are there,” said Mrs Florek.

“Nobody mentions about these people and their situation.

“Have they been abandoned? Can they drink water or [are they] just left at Russian soldiers’ mercy? We know they show no mercy,” said Mrs Florek.

In April, BBC News reported on a disabled woman who was reunited with her nephew, who lives in the UK, after volunteers stepped in to bring the woman and the man’s mother out of Ukraine.

Mother-of-two Mrs Florek, 36, left her family as she said she had no choice but to fly to Warsaw on a “whim” as she could no longer “just wait for someone’s mercy” at the Home Office, after waiting more than three weeks to hear about her brother’s visa.

“I couldn’t live with myself knowing I haven’t done everything in my power to save my close family. He is my only brother and he is precious,” she said.

She said she had been told the delays were due to her brother not having a biometric passport, which was due to his severe disabilities.

“I needed to go and help. If I didn’t help, nobody would help them,” she added.

While waiting for her brother’s UK visa to be processed in Warsaw, Mrs Florek said she had felt “broken and exhausted” after spending a day trying to interpret and translate to help others applying.

“They are people who are dealing with trauma, desperation; people who have no money; people who’ve lost loved ones; people who’ve left them; people with nothing; people trying to find a sponsor, someone who can provide shelter.”

The 36-year-old said there was “a big gap” and more needed to be done to find people who could speak fluent Ukrainian and English, adding many were relying on phone apps to communicate.
BBC/Taiwo Akinola

Politics

Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde has appointed a visually impaired lawyer, Mr Babatunde Fadiya as a counsel in the Oyo State Ministry of Justice.
He was presented his letter of appointment at the state secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan by the Executive Assistant on Persons Living with Disabilities to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr Ayodele Adekanbi.
Mr Fadiya expressed his appreciation to the governor for fulfilling his promises after several failed attempts by him to secure a job as a lawyer.
Governor Makinde who spoke through his Executive Assistant on Persons Living with Disabilities, Mr Ayodele Adekanbi said the appointment was done to encourage professionalism amongst persons living with disabilities.
The governor also disclosed that letters of appointment would be given to 150 teaching and 50 non-teaching persons living with disabilities in the ongoing TESCOM recruitment.
Governor Makinde also hinted that the Oyo State government would soon commission special equipment worth millions of naira for the use of persons living with disabilities.


Iyabo Adebisi

Lifestyle

Persons Living With Disabilities in Osun State have called on government and the society to pay more attention to the rights of special persons.

In this special report they told Radio Nigeria correspondent, Adenitan Akinola on the celebration of this year’s International Human Rights Day, the need for respect of their rights as human beings.

His Report.

https://radionigeriaibadan.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Human-right-day-PLWDs-osun-.mp3

Adenitan Akinola