OPENING DOORS AND BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS TOWARDS INCLUSIVE CLIMATE CHANGE AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE POLICIES FOR ALL IN LAGOS STATE THE NEED FOR MULTI-STAKEHOLDER RESPONSE AND COLLABORATIONS

PAPER PRESENTED AT
ONE-DAY
PUBLIC POLICY DIALOGUE
ON
MAIN-STREAMING DISABILITY ISSUES IN CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAMMERS
AND POLICIES
ORGANIZED BY
DISABILITY POLICY AND ADVOCACY INITIATIVE (DPAI)
AND
POLICY ADVOCACY PARTNERSHIP ON CLIMATE CHANGE (PAPCC)
HELD AT
KNIGHTBRIDGE HOTEL, TOYIN STREET, IKEJA, LAGOS, NIGERIA
DATE: 10TH DECEMBER, 2013
Introduction:
Like Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) would say, “If you disbelieve what I say, you
can’t disbelieve the fact that the climate is changing and that it is impacting in various
ways on everybody” including PWDs. It is not only worsening the socio-economic
conditions in which PWDs live in, it also a fact that climate change impacts is one of the
factors which has been contributing the steady rise in the population of PWDs due to
natural and man-made disasters.
On the 6th of November, 2013, we engaged leaders of the disability community in Lagos
state with a view to feeling their understandings on climate change, emergency
management and other related issues. The big questions for our audience at that
meeting was “How does climate change impact on PWDs? And how has PWDs been
coping and responding to the impacts of climate change?” We also sought to know what
PWDs think the Government and other stakeholders should do to mitigate the impacts
of climate change on their community.
Our major discovery at that workshop was that PWDs, which constitute nearly 15% of
the entire population of Lagos State know very little about the fundamentals of climate
change, emergency response and other related matters.
The reasons for this are not far fetched. In most cases, PWDs are often the least
considered in the disagrigation of demographic features of any population by policy
makers, service providers, researchers, advocates, etc. This is also responsible for the
inability of governments and the larger society to connect PWDs with contemporary
global issues and challenges such as climate change, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health,
gender and other social inequalities, etc.
However, with the establishment of the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2006, and the enactment of the Lagos State Special People’s
Law in 2011, experts on disability issues have been doing so much to guide the thinking
of policy makers, service providers, researchers, advocates and other stakeholders
especially in the development sector on the need to evolve inclusive approaches to
policies and programmes.
Accordingly, our goal at this meeting is to explore a policy-based multi-stakeholder
approach towards opening doors of opportunities to PWDs and breaking down all
barriers which may hinder their effective inclusion in the mitigation of climate change
impacts and access to emergency services where the need arises.
Who are the Stakeholders?
As far as climate change and emergency response issues are concerned in Lagos
state, we recognize that the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and the Lagos
State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA) are the most critical. Other MDAs
with very significant roles include those in charge of disability affairs, youths and social
development, agriculture, rural development, housing, transport, women affairs and
poverty alleviation, education and waste management. This is with out any prejudice to
the roles and responsibilities of other line ministries, departments and agencies of the
Lagos State government such as those in charge of information/media, finance,
economic planning and budget, etc whose statutory responsibilities cut across the
duties of those mentioned here.
What are the Issues for PWDs?
The issues for PWDs are as numerous and diverse as nature itself. As such, time and
space may not allow us to exhaust them. However, we shall highlight some we consider
as very critical.
1. Safe environment: No matter what government say or does, our environment
will remain unsafe to PWDs and the larger society if drainages remain opened or
uncovered. All drainages in streets and high ways should be properly covered to
prevent dumping of refuse, serve as good walk-ways and prevent accidents to
PWDs and other road users.

2. Access to daily means of livelihood: While the obvious challenges of
infrastructure and technology continue to reduce access of PWDs to the public
transport systems, the challenges of travelling long distance for the purpose of
earning a living continues to drive countless PWDs into abject poverty. As such,
conscious efforts should be made to create choices or alternatives of localized
jobs, small and medium scale business, farming, etc to PWDs situated within
their residential localities. This strategy will be most applicable to PWDs with
significant mobility challenges. This will reduce loss of income due to climate
induced disasters like floods.

3. Access to affordable housing: As the fear of climate change induced floods
compel property owners situated in flood-prone areas to build inaccessible
barriers around their residential buildings, PWDs can only look up to respites
from the various on-going government housing schemes which are not likely to
be in flood-prone areas and are more likely to comply with relevant accessibility
provisions of the Lagos State Special People’s Law. The government should also
put up programmes to support property owners who are willing to remodel and
improve the accessibility of their properties to accommodate PWDs.

4. Emergency Management: Although LASEMA seem to be quite informed about
being inclusive in its emergency management policies and programmes, the
practicability of this inclusive is yet to be demonstrated. However, we don’t need
to wait for an emergency to occur before this can be demonstrated. LASEMA
should begin to engage with communities of PWDs in Lagos state for the
purpose of awareness creation, enlightenment and capacity-building, as well as
preparedness for unexpected situations. We reiterate that this action is taking too
long to come if any, as disasters like floods and/or rain storms induced building
collapse, fire, heavy rains, etc some times don’t announce their occurrences.

5. Education: There are no evidences to show that our children with disabilities in
Lagos State Inclusive and Special Schools are engaged in extra-curricula
activities on climate change and emergency management. I'm aware that an
Agency of Lagos State government has been working with public schools on
issues of emergency, safety and security among others; but there isn't any
records to show that inclusive and special schools are being included. This is
either because there is no capacity to do so, or probably because those in
charge don’t even think the these children need such education. Often times, this
is where exclusion begins.

6. Access to Information: Often times, the media, policy-makers and other experts
on climate change, emergency management and other related issues are
unaware of the fact that PWDs also need to be informed about these issues. As
such when designing advocacy, public enlightenment and other communication
materials, specific needs of PWDs are never taken into account. It is important
that designers of these materials should understand the various disability-based
information accessibility needs. We should know that bill boards will not serve the
blind; radio will not serve the deaf; information written or spoken in very complex
English will not serve those with intellectual disabilities; PWDs with lower literacy
levels will require interpretations in local languages; etc.

7. Gender-based Interventions: Women with disabilities should be engaged when
programmes which target women are designed and implemented. Our women
face the challenges of access to water; they also use energy for domestic
purposes; and they are often worse affected when climate change or natural
disasters destroy means of livelihood. While it is sometimes easier for non-disabled
women to get back into life after disasters, women with disabilities often
times, never survive because they are neither included in most post-disaster
relief programmes nor in the regular women empowerment programmes.

Conclusion:
From the foregoing, we can see that only a policy-driven multi-stakeholder approach
can effectively open doors and break down most of the barriers which excludes PWDs
from participating in, and benefiting from climate change and emergency management
programmes and policies of government.

All relevant MDAs of the Lagos State Government need to come together under a
technical working group to ensure that PWDs are effectively main-streamed in these
very critical policy areas.