Going forward, all public buildings to be constructed in Anambra State will conform with accessibility standards for Persons With Disabilities, PWDs.
The assurance was given on Tuesday by the Managing Director of the Anambra State Bureau of Public Procurement, Arch Okey Ezeobi, when he received members of the Board of Anambra State Disability Rights Commission in his office in Awka.
The visit by the Board was to seek the cooperation of the Bureau in ensuring full implementation of aspects of the Disability Rights Law that pertains to buildings and other infrastructure in the state.
Speaking during the visit, the Chairman of Anambra State Disability Rights Commission Board, Bar Chuks Ezewuzie said the visit is to equip the Bureau with the required knowledge to enable them make sure that at the point of designing projects, all necessary accessibility requirements are met.
According to him, the visit is an informative session as part of their advocacy to relevant government agencies in the state, towards the implementation of the Disability Rights Law.
“Section 23 of the Anambra State Disability Rights Law is explicit about what is required of structures, as it concerns accessibility.
“We feel this visit is very key, as the Bureau of Public Procurement is at the centre of any approval process for procurement in the state, be it construction of buildings or roads.
“What we want to achieve is to get the consent of the Bureau to enable us issue Certificate of No Objection for projects, after we must have inspected the plan and ascertained that all the standards are met,” he said.
Ezewuzie noted that the Disability Rights Law is a domestication on the UN convention charter on the rights of the PWDs.
“Anambra was one of the first states to enact the Disability Rights Law and also set up a Commission to drive the implementation of the law. Borrowing from the Anambra example, many other states like Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu are doing the same, in recognition of the need for inclusive governance.
“This advocacy we are leading is to ensure that our state adheres to international requirements on the accessibility features of the public facilities, roads and other infrastructure.
“We are also advocating for the establishment of audible signals at road crossings for the visually-impaired, to guarantee the safety and independence of the visually-impaired persons, who are not able to see when the lights for crossing are on.
“We are available to drive the process by providing technical support and professional assistance to ensure the full implementation of the Law,” Ezewuzie noted.
Earlier in a presentation, the Public Relations Officer of the Board, Miss Chidinma Ajemba, said the Commission through the advocacy, is looking at how the Bureau can ensure that at the point of developing the projects, they are handicap-accessible.
She opined that conformity with the Building Codes in the Disability by developers, is achievable but only requires relevant authorities to commit to doing the rights things.
Responding the State BPP MD, Ezeobi said the present state administration is quite ambitious about promoting inclusivity in the state and is already making sure that buildings and other infrastructure are built in a way that they can be accessed easily by all categories of Anambra people.
“At the new government house, and the new general hospitals the state government is building, new features to make for accessibility to all categories of people have been introduced.
”This is coming at an additional cost to the state government but we are committed to ensuring that we are inclusive in what we are doing in the building industries, not just in terms of accessibility to the buildings but also the entire utilities and urinals in the buildings.
“For us, it is a commitment that every public building must conform to accessibility standards for all categories of residents of the state.
“If you notice in all the roads the state government is constructing in all townships, there are walkways, and this will ensure that people, especially the persons with disabilities, are safe while using the roads as pedestrians,” he noted.
He also advised the Commission to ensure that the advocacy gets to other line Ministries and agencies of government in the building sector, to ensure that overall compliance is achieved.
Presentation of a copy of the Anambra Disability Rights Law to the Bureau of Public Procurement boss by the Chairman of the Disability Rights Commission, Barr Ezewuzie was the highpoint of the visit.
