Persons With Disabilities PWDs in the country have kicked against their continued exclusion from engagements regarding the articulation and distribution of post-fuel subsidy palliatives by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
Addressing participants, Hon. Dawodu said the House Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas had recently given an approval to have a sign language interpreter in the lower chamber during proceedings. They said; “After our last press conference, we wrote letters requesting for meetings with government Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs and relevant committees of the National Assembly. Sadly, only the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Disability, Hon. Bashiru Dawodu, responded. We held a fruitful meeting with Hon Dawodu and left with the impression that we have in him a leader who is knowledgeable and passionate about the welfare of PWDs.
“The representatives of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities OPDs and Civil Society Organizations CSOs should be incorporated into the planning, implementation, and monitoring of the cash transfer initiative and such other measures that may be initiated by government at all levels, in respect of the fuel subsidy removal policy.
“The federal government should reverse the Value Added Tax VAT from 7.5 percent to 5 percent by October 2023, and halt further increases in existing taxes, tariffs, and duties, as well as the introduction of new ones for the next one year to increase the purchasing power of Nigerians, especially PWDs. We had also proposed this to begin to take effect in September but that has not been achieved.