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By Gilbert Ekezie
The Federal Government of Nigeria had been urged to create an access that provide an enabling environment for inclusion, diversity, better infrastructure development and proper training of those with disabilities in the country.
President/ Founder of Special Education Collaborative Outreach (SECO) Mrs Imuetinyan Okwueze made the call in Lagos recently at a briefing for the forthcoming SECO Annual Activity Fair and Inclusion Awareness Campaign scheduled to take place at Alausa, Ikeja Lagos on June 19, 2021.
She explained that (SECO), as a non-profit making organization founded to facilitate positive change in the everyday lives of individuals in at-risk populations, it has not been finding it easy in achieving her aims due to high cost of shipment of training materials and items needed to give the underprivileged in the Nigerian society a good sence of belonging.
She urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide waiver, discounts, tax incentives on customs duties on shipment of the various items being used to train and cater for the less privileged people in Nigeria.
The US-based Lawyer and doctoral student in Educational Leadership and Management with Capella University, Minnesota who had in the past years, impacted lives of the underprivileged Nigerians through her humanitarian gestures decried the condition and neglect of the underprivileged and opined that there is need for her organisation to partner with the Government to promote inclusion , infrastructure development, training special teachers and ensuring policy change that would provide the needed access.
She explained that SECO has done events like fashion show for different abled individuals , to boost their self esteem; workshops and training on information on disabilities for teachers and parents; providing resources to special centers for Down’s Syndrome; cerebral palsy; autism; providing three special assistance transit buses that are wheelchair-compliant for use by people with special needs; providing adult diapers; commodes; walkers; wheelchairs, clutches for senior citizens and all who need them, providing resources like books, clothing, toys and enrichment programmes to train and teach special skills
According to her, in helping the physically-challenged persons to actualise their dreams, SECO is spending a lot of money on shipping and clearing to bring in containers of items for the physically challenged in Nigeria, and appealed that the Federal Government should consider giving rebates and waivers to SECO to reduce the cost of importation.
“We want to partner with local, state and Federal Government on how to set up, promote and train special teachers, provide infrastructures and make policy changes.”
She explained that SECO’s focus is to promote inclusion with a focus on underprivileged and different-able individuals, aimed at empowering them to live successful lives through their own merit. “Our members strive to work hand-in-hand with these individuals to develop their personal skills and improve their ability to make their way in the world. We seek to make a connection with persons in different circumstances and develop true empathy, rather than detached sympathy, that we may duplicate the best of ourselves.”
Okwueze informed that even before the official foundation of SECO in 2018, she and others were working silently in the background, experienced enough through their own professional and personal encounters and realized the need for greater awareness for spreading the word on ‘Inclusion.’
Unfortunately, due to cultural or financial circumstances, many fall through the cracks, and are left to struggle through life. SECO aims to demonstrate that these people do have the capacity for success, provided they are given the opportunity, proper training, attention, and encouragement to identify and develop their individual strengths and talents.
She noted that her organisation focuses on helping individuals with disabilities, helping the less privileged, with hope that government policies in Nigeria will help empower them have equal rights in the society. “So, SECO focuses working around across all spectrum of our daily lives – education, construction, finance and others, just to ensure that the less privileged among us have a voice in the society, having been marginalized for such a long time.
“We set goals for ourselves. First, we are creating awareness, and when we think about inclusion and diversity, and none of that would happen without access. And, to achieve access, there must be creation of awareness about what is going on in the society.
“As we know in some African countries, it is one thing to pass policy and another thing to implement it. So, the goal we are working on for now is to create awareness, to make sure that those physically challenged are given favourable policy by the Federal Government , while we provide support around that policy; so that for instance, when you are constructing a new building, you are thinking about making provision for those disabled with adaptability to ensure you support them as well. When we think of educational system, we think about developing a curriculum with accommodations and adaptability to support individuals who are intellectually disabled. SECO focuses on those levels of accommodations. Our goal right now is awareness, and we have been doing campaign in many localities, cities where we have visited to work with those local governments and agencies , providing supports to the citizens.
We have provided wheelchairs, walkers, adult diapers, resources, books, clothing, stationery,, toys, shoes, and many other items for people in need and displaced individuals. During the COVID- 19 pandemic period, we provided food items, cash palliative, face mask and hand sanitizers to people in many localities in Nigeria.”
Okwueze said in all SECO does, it is ready for partnership or collaboration. “Let me make it clear here that the first step we need is support from the Federal Government, which is the missing link. When you have NGO like ours, who are really doing fund raising from our personal pockets, putting our own money into it to support people with disabilities, what we need is a support from the Federal Government, because what we are doing in most societies are what the Federal Govetnment should be responsible for. So, if we come in to support the FG, the least they can provide are access and good policies to support us train those kind of people , so that when they go into the labour market , they will get jobs.”
On the move to intimate government about this SECO laudable projects in Nigeria, Director of Operations of the Organization, Mr Jesse Short said
“We have some individuals working within the government right now, talking to those in charge about our project initiatives. So, the Government at all levels in N are aware of it. However, we need to do more to achieve our aims.
Short observed that the physically challenged in the Nigerian society are going through a lot of pains, agony and denials . They lack the needed care . So, we deem it fit to try in our little way to support the Government to give them sense of belonging by providing them wheel
Scooters or mechanical wheelchairs; Walkers; Commodes; Adult Diapers; Children toys; Gently-used clothing; and Gently-used shoes. Others are: Used household items; Children’s Books; Books, toys, writing materials, manipulative, learning tools, educational resources; Cash donations to cover shipping cost of which a SECO account will be available; Completion and acquisition of vocational skills training centers all over the country; Educational training centers; and more ambassadors to help with community outreach.
He stated construction work on SECO Vocational Training Centre at Ajah area of Lagos is progressing. “It is not an easy one. But we are doing everything possible to ensure it’s completion within a short period of time.”
