INEC should make voting easy for PWDs-Anyaele

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo

Executive Director, 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 organizations, key stakeholders from the development partners, heads of organizations of persons with disabilities and members of the media.

The CCD boss, who presented the findings from the assessment of INEC preparations for PWDs for the 2022 governorship election in Osun State, said 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.

“INEC should also train election day ad-hoc staff adequately to appreciate their roles and responsibilities to PWD voters saying that findings from previous election observations shows that an average INEC adhoc staff don’t understand what assistive devices for PWDs means.

“Ensure the mainstreaming of PWDs issues in public sensitizations 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 to encourage deaf voters to come with personal sign language interpreters to the polling unit to minimize communication gap between the adhoc 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 said.

He said that Osun State government should adopt national disability law to ensure the protection of the PWDs.

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