The Centre for Infrastructural and Technological Advancement for the Blind (CITAB) has condemned the recent distribution of assistive devices by the Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA), describing it as a familiar parade of cameras and handshakes that looks good in headlines but leaves the daily exclusion of persons with disabilities firmly in place.
This was contained in a press release issued today in Lagos by Jolomi Fenemigho, Executive Chairman of CITAB.
CITAB stated that while the publicized presentation of laptops, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs to a small group of civil servants may be portrayed as support, it does not confront the real barriers facing the disability community, including systemic discrimination, inaccessible public infrastructure, and an escalating unemployment crisis.
Fenemigho reminded LASODA that although it was created and is run by the Lagos State Government, its first obligation is the affairs, rights, and welfare of every registered person with disability in Lagos, and that this responsibility must be treated with seriousness and prioritized over publicity and every other competing interest.
CITAB further raised alarm over what it called the mystery of the “invisible” recruits in the recent online recruitment exercise conducted by the Lagos State Local Government Council, noting that despite many visually impaired candidates participating in last year’s process, no blind applicant has been able to confirm an appointment.
According to him: “The Local Government Council claims it has recruited members of our community, yet no visually impaired person has come forward to validate these assertions. These purported recruits appear to exist only in statements, not in verifiable appointments. We urge LASODA to demand and publish proof of these employments, because our community remains sidelined despite participating in the official process.”
The CITAB leader criticized what he described as a recurring culture of symbolic interventions where government prefers ceremonial handovers to enforceable inclusion, warning that a laptop cannot open doors that policy keeps shut, and devices cannot deliver independence in a city designed to exclude.
Fenemigho said: “Equipping a few people who already have jobs is not inclusion, it is decoration. If government is serious, let it show us the jobs, show us the access, and show us the budget lines that make support usable beyond the photo session.”
In conclusion, CITAB called on LASODA to immediately publish the list of PWDs recruited during the recent Local Government exercise and provide verifiable evidence of their appointments, to conduct and publish a transparent audit of PWD representation across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies with a clear compliance plan to meet the 5 percent employment quota under the Lagos State Special People’s Law, and to make a time bound, measurable commitment to retrofit public buildings, services, and transport systems for full accessibility. CITAB further demanded that independent disability led groups, including CITAB, be included in monitoring disability related employment, accessibility, and assistive technology programs, stressing that Nothing About Us Without Us must be enforced in Lagos as a standard, not performed as a slogan.
