WAEC Urges Investment IN Disabled Children

The Chairman of the West African Examination Council, Prof Pai Obanya, has called on all stakeholders to invest more in the needs of children with disabilities and those with special needs.
Obanya who made the call last Thursday in Enugu at a two-day Media Dialogue on the 2013 State of the World’s Children Report organised by UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information.
He said that children with disability needed to be included in all issues concerning them as they were part of the society.
According to him, investing in the lives of children with special needs and disabilities entails inclusion and participation.
He said “just as every child is gifted in some way, every child is disabled in one way or the other, it’s a question of the severity of the disability. So parents, are to extend this love to everybody, two, is to understand that ability can be made out of disability, and three, is to really investment in it, invest is not just money, it is care, it is time, it is love, it is energy, and of course, we are all prayerful and religious, prayers also help, but you have to work and pray at the same time.”
Obanya spoke of the need for Nigeria to do away with discrimination of orphans, as well as eliminating orphanages, thereby integrating them into homes for an all-inclusive development.
He said that the report of the world’s children was the lead on issues concerning children and stressed the need for improved policies.
According to him, “children in orphanages have this social barrier; I was an orphan but I never felt it because I grew up in a home, and my uncle treated me like any of his children; in fact, you must not say he wasn’t my father, and for that reason, I was useful to myself, but if I was orphaned into an orphanage, the stigmitisation, the lack of love would not have been there.
“So what is advocated in this publication is probably gradually do away with orphanages and integrate, get children who are orphaned adopted into homes, you know traditionally we had the adoption facilities, my niece is not my niece, she is my daughter, my nephew is not my nephew, he is my son, but that is dying because things are becoming difficulty, just as old people are not been catered for by their children, they are now going to retirement homes, but those homes are artificial, they have their barriers, the, love is always lacking,” he added.
Obanya said that there was the need for government to remove architectural barriers against children with disabilities, adding that it would help them have access to basic rights.
The Tide reports that the 2013 State of the World’s Children report has “Disability and Children“ as its theme.
The report focuses on the importance of including children with disability in development processes.