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ADVANCING GOVERNANCE THROUGH THE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

As the call for disability inclusion grows for a more democratic and progressive government, development experts and disability inclusion advocates have explained why people with disabilities (PWDs) must be empowered to participate actively in Nigeria's political, electoral, and economic landscapes. These explanations were made during the Able to Serve Live television Town Hall Meeting titled, “Advancing governance through the political participation of persons with disabilities”, organized by TAF Africa with funding support from the Macarthur Foundation.   In their separate submissions, the development experts and disability inclusion advocates, who are reputable for their advocacies for good governance and inclusivity in the participation of minority groups in the society, argued that the government must make deliberate efforts to adhere to Nigeria's Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act of 2018, which criminalizes discrimination against persons with disabilities. Speaking on the panel, Samson Itodo, the Executive Director of YIAGA Africa addressed the need for society to come to the reality of accepting persons with disabilities as parts of the social structure who should be supported and empowered to participate in relevant sectors in the society, particularly in the electoral and political sphere. He further downplayed the charity approach the government uses to engage persons with disabilities by making donations as empowerment instead of feasible empowerment such as inclusion in the budgetary allocations and recruitment into the government employment scheme.   In his words, “Do Nigerian voters believe in the Capacity of persons with disabilities to lead? The Able2Serve campaign is not just for the political class but for the public as well. The government must create grounds and accessibility for the recruitment of persons with disabilities into its institutions. They must check the appropriation bill to see how much is budgeted for Persons with Disabilities. There must also be an evaluation with a level of accountability. Distributing wheelchairs to persons with disabilities is not an empowerment program; they need economic empowerment.” Speaking on the need to provide more grounds for the persons with disabilities, Ene Obi, Development Expert and Former Country Director of Action Aid Nigeria explained that disability issues are not peculiar to some groups of people, but what the populace must pay more attention to which will in turn force the government into paying more attention to the needs of persons with disabilities.   She stated that even though different organizations are advocating for inclusion in the country, and there are results to show for the efforts, there are still many gaps to be filled by the government. She insisted that collective effort must be put into effect to achieve tenable results in governance. She further urged the concerned stakeholders to continue to advocate for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in governance.   In her contribution, Vaneza Udegbe-Gregory, programme lead of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund, urged the stakeholders to set realistic milestones when discussing accessibility for persons with disabilities and give progress reports. She also called for accountability from policymakers and people who are placed in positions of leadership in their engagement with persons with disabilities and other minority groups. Dwelling on strategies for inclusive governance, Lois Auta, the founder of Cedar Seed Foundation, pointed out infrastructural and medical barriers to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in sensitive positions in governance. She stated that, despite the existence of Nigerian and international laws mandating disability inclusion in the social structure of society, Nigeria takes a charity approach to dealing with people with disabilities, resulting in a lack of investment in minority groups.   She therefore urged the government to move from a charity style to a human rights style, which will extend to their participation in government. She also charged the persons with disabilities to continue to amplify their voices until they are heard in the country. In his intervention, Dr Chike Okogwu, Founder of the Centre for Ability Rehabilitation and Empowerment in Nigeria (CARE) urged President Bola Tinubu to appoint the required 5% of persons with disabilities to various portfolios to eradicate stereotypical tendencies in society. He also urged the state governors and the local government chairpersons to take a similar route. He also encouraged the community of persons with disabilities across the country to venture into politics, stating that they have the right and capacity to serve in the public and private sectors of the government.   In his words, "If President Tinubu appointed 5% of the PWDs to his government, and the state governors and local governments did the same, many PWDs would be more empowered, and the discrimination we face would be reduced." For instance, the transportation system in the country is not PWD friendly, and both land transport and aviation do not support PWDs in the country: Imagine if the minister of transportation or aviation were a person with disability, that would have been corrected.” Barrister Rex Erameh, the FCT Chairman of the Albinism Association of Nigeria urged the government to comply with the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act. He also encouraged the PWDs to remain resilient and disregard the impediments of participation in governance.

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Inside the Joint EU Election Hub: How TAF Africa Tracked PWDs Participation in the Osun’s Election in Real Time

Adolak Events Hall, Osogbo, Osun State — 15th August 2026   When the polls opened across Osun State on 15 August 2026, thousands of voters with disabilities weren’t just showing up to cast a ballot — they were testing whether Nigeria’s electoral system was finally built for them too. Through a wide-reaching pre-election and election-day intervention, TAF Africa’s Able2Vote Campaign, implemented under the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Programme, set out to answer that question with evidence rather than assumptions — and the results tell a story of real progress, alongside gaps that still demand attention. Breaking the Communication Barrier for Deaf Voters Perhaps the most tangible innovation was the deployment of 24 trained Sign Language Interpreters (SLIs) to 29 polling units across 12 LGAs, supporting 84 deaf voters on election day. Olorunda LGA alone accounted for 24 of those voters, while Ife Central, Osogbo, and Iwo rounded out the areas of highest concentration — together representing nearly two-thirds of all deaf voters reached. The data-driven approach — matching interpreter deployment to where deaf voters were actually registered — offers a replicable model. As one flexible deployment in Iwo showed (two interpreters covering five polling units), smart resource allocation can stretch limited capacity without leaving voters behind. Feedback from beneficiaries confirmed the impact: for many deaf voters, this was the first election where communication wasn’t a barrier to independent participation. What 150 Trained Observers Saw on Election Day To ground all of this in hard evidence, TAF Africa trained 150 election observers and deployed them, alongside its TAF Disability Hub App and a citizen eyewitness feature called The Third Eye, to document what was really happening at the polls. The numbers paint a nuanced picture: The good news •       94.3% of polling units were physically accessible to PWDs •       91.9% offered priority voting •       95.3% reported no harassment of PWD voters •       98.3% of votes were counted openly, and 94.6% of results were announced on-site •       97.66% of PWD voters who came to vote were able to do so The gaps that remain •       Braille ballot guides were available in just 22.8% of polling units; magnifying glasses in only 5.7% •       Only 46.3% of polling units had PWDs serving as INEC ad-hoc staff — and zero had observed PWD party agents •       Security personnel were present in just 46.3% of polling units •       78.1% of PWD voters relied on trusted aides rather than assistive devices or trained support •       Observers recorded 91 cases of PWD voters being induced, 23 cases of intimidation, and 40 incidents of violence around polling units   Indicator Positive Gap Physically accessible polling units 94.3% 5.7% not accessible Priority voting provided 91.9% 8.1% no priority voting No harassment of PWD voters 95.3% 4.7% harassment cases Votes counted openly 98.3% 1.7% not counted openly PWD INEC ad-hoc staff present 46.3% 53.7% no PWD staff PWD party agents observed 0% 100% no PWD party agent   The takeaway is clear: physical access to a polling unit is no longer the main battle. The next frontier is making sure PWDs can vote independently, are represented inside election structures, and are protected from manipulation that specifically targets their vulnerability. Stories the Statistics Can’t Tell Numbers aside, some of the most telling moments came from individual polling units. At Ile-Epo in Ward 4, a blind voter arrived with his wife’s assistance and later described the process as seamless — officials correctly completed the required Form EC40H to document his participation, a small but crucial act of accountability. Just a short distance away at Ataoja C PU 002, the story was different: officials seemed unfamiliar with the same form, producing other paperwork instead when asked about it. The same election, the same state, two very different experiences — a reminder that policy on paper means little without consistent training on the ground. At that same location, a wobbly wooden plank bridging an open drainage channel — the only route to where voter names were displayed — illustrated how accessibility gaps can hide in the details officials never think to check. The Road to 2027 With Nigeria’s next General Elections on the horizon in 2027, the report’s central message is a call to move from basic access to full, meaningful participation. Among the key recommendations: •       Institutionalize the provision of assistive devices and Sign Language Interpreters as standard election infrastructure, not a one-off intervention •       Set clear targets for recruiting qualified PWDs as election officials and party agents •       Conduct pre-election accessibility audits to catch physical barriers before voting day •       Strengthen disability-responsive security to protect PWD voters from intimidation and inducement •       Expand digital reporting tools like the Disability Hub App and Third Eye to make election monitoring faster and more evidence-based •       Embed PWD organizations directly into electoral planning, not just as consultees but as decision-makers The Bigger Picture The Osun State Governorship Election shows what’s possible when advocacy, technology, and stakeholder collaboration work in concert. Nearly all PWD voters who showed up were able to cast a ballot — a real achievement. But the same data reveals that acceptance at the ballot box hasn’t yet translated into representation within the system itself. Closing that gap — from voter to observer, from observer to official, from official to decision-maker — is the work that lies ahead as Nigeria looks toward 2027. This article is based on TAF Africa’s Osun State Governorship Election disability inclusion report, produced under the EU-SDGN Programme.

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