The Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) has engaged Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) on disability-inclusive climate change policy review in Abia.
The one-day workshop, which held in Umuahia, had participants drawn from different disability clusters in the state.
It was organised in collaboration with Abia State Commission for the Welfare of the Disabled Persons, with support from the Disability Rights Fund.
The Acting Director of CCD, Mr Godwin Unumeri, said that the purpose of the workshop was to ensure that the perspectives on issues of PWDs were adequately captured in the “Abia State Climate Change Policy.”
He commended Abia Government for the policy, while describing the state “as a pace-setter on issues of PWDs in every facet of life.”
Unumeri said that the policy was at the draft stage, adding that the organisation would ensure that all the inputs by the stakeholders would be reflected in the final document.
Unumeri said that CCD is an organisation that was founded to ensure that issues of PWDs and their families were brought into policies, programmes and activities across the country.
“PWDs are poorest of the poor and if you are developing a policy for a people who are largely not educated, you have to be very explicit,” he said.
The chairman of the commission, Mr David Anyaele, said that the commission was designed to support the welfare of PWDs in Abia.
He that the commission was saddled with the responsibility of formulating policies and guidelines that would support disability mainstreaming in the activities of the state and non-state institutions.
Anyaele, who is also the Special Assistant to the Governor on Persons with Disabilities, said that the purpose of the workshop was to develop and review existing climate change policies to ensure inclusivity of PWDs.
“All over the world, the climate is changing and the PWDs are particularly vulnerable to this incidence.
“As a commission, we will ensure that the state response around climate change are all-inclusive where issues of PWDs are factored in.”
He thanked CCD for choosing to bring the intervention to Abia and Gov. Alex Otti, for ensuring that issues concerning PWDs were mainstreamed in his administration.
The facilitator, Mrs Esther Ajah, said that the purpose of the policy review was to ensure that the vulnerable groups, particularly PWDs, were perfectly captured in the low carbon economy transitioning of the state.
Ajah, the Special Assistant to Gov. Alex Otti on Climate Change and Sustainability, explained that it was to let the PWDs go through the policy, see how it affected them and give them a sense of belonging.
She said that there would be a second review of the policy and promised that issues of PWDs would be incorporated into the policy when it was done.
A participant, Mr Iroabuchi Alozie, who is the State Chairman of Persons with Physical Disabilities, thanked CCD and the commission for being in the forefront towards getting the climate change policy initiated for PWDs.
“I’m hopeful that by the time it becomes a policy, duly signed by the governor, it is going to change the lot of PWDs in Abia,” he said.
In 2024, the CCD conducted research on inclusive-climate change mitigation and adaptation for PWDs in Abia.
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