FG to sue airlines over breach of Disability Act

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

The Federal Government is planning to sue airlines and other operators who fail to comply with the extant laws concerning persons living with disabilities in Nigeria.

The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities on Tuesday, condemned the situation where it becomes difficult for the category of persons to enjoy public facilities, especially the airports.

The commission noted that it is already discussing with the Ministers of Aviation, Hadi Sirika; Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; as well as the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation engaged to construct new airport terminals across the country.

The commission’s Executive Secretary, James Lalu, made this known in Abuja at an investigative hearing organised by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Disabilities on ‘The Need to Investigate the Alleged Violation of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and Private Airline Operators.’

Lalu said as quoted by the Punch, “Sincerely speaking, for us in the disability community and the National Disability Commission, we find this act by this airline completely disappointing. To discriminate against a PWD, you must have that very strong negative perception towards PWDs before you could be able to do that.

“We see this as something of national interest and we thank the committee for raising this. The right of PWDs today in Nigeria is non-negotiable. We are here as a commission to defend this right. Therefore, when we receive some of these complaints, we try to look into these policies that most of these airlines continue to sign. The policies remain worrisome to us as a disability community.

“We want to bring to their notice that the existence of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act already criminalises any form of discrimination of towards persons with disabilities in totality.”