PRESS RELEASE
3rd December 2025
Lagos, Nigeria
Centre for Media and Society Urges Collective Action as Nigeria Marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2025
Theme: “Fostering Disability-Inclusive Societies for Advancing Social Progress”
As the world commemorates the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) 2025, the Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO) joins the global community in highlighting the urgent need to accelerate efforts toward creating inclusive, for all. Observed annually on 03 December and instituted through United Nations General Assembly Resolution 47/3, the Day serves as a vital platform to deepen understanding of disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities.
Speaking on the significance of this year’s theme, the Executive Director of the Centre for Media and Society, Dr. Akin Akingbulu, emphasized that inclusive societies do not emerge by accident but through deliberate policy enforcement, institutional accountability, and attitudinal transformation. He noted that while Nigeria has taken meaningful strides—such as ratifying the UNCRPD, enacting the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, and introducing the 2023 Accessibility Regulations—implementation gaps continue to undermine progress and perpetuate systemic exclusion.
“Legislation alone does not change lives—implementation does. Until public infrastructure, social services, workplaces, digital platforms, and humanitarian interventions become accessible to all Nigerians, our vision of an inclusive society remains incomplete,” Dr. Akingbulu said. He added that disability inclusion must be seen not as an act of charity but as a matter of justice and national development.
Across the country, millions of Nigerians with disabilities still confront painful and persistent barriers: inaccessible public buildings, discriminatory hiring practices, limited access to education and healthcare, inadequate assistive technologies, and widespread stigma. Stories of commuters being carried into buses due to lack of ramps, or citizens with disabilities being excluded from relief distribution committees despite government directives, remind us that exclusion is lived—not theoretical—and demands urgent redress.
CEMESO notes with concern the widening gap between policy and practice, calling attention to the need for stronger institutional coordination, adequate funding for state and federal disability commissions, and meaningful involvement of Disabled Persons’ Organisations (DPOs) in decision-making processes.
“Disability inclusion is not optional—it is essential for social progress and national growth. We must move beyond symbolic commitments to measurable, sustained action,” Dr. Akingbulu stressed.
To achieve disability-inclusive social progress, CEMESO identifies five priority national actions:
- Meaningful enforcement of existing laws, ensuring that accessibility and non-discrimination mandates translate into lived realities.
- Accessible public infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals, courts, transport systems, and polling units.
- Inclusive human capital development, integrating disability considerations in education, skills training, employment, and digital innovation.
- Robust disability-disaggregated data systems to guide planning, policymaking, and budgetary prioritization.
- Sustained public awareness and attitude transformation, replacing stigma with empathy, respect, and solidarity.
As an institution working deeply in Nigeria’s electoral governance and media development landscape, CEMESO expresses particular concern about the persistent barriers persons with disabilities face in exercising their constitutional right to vote. Despite legal protections, many encounter difficulties accessing voter registration centres, polling units, and election information. In past election cycles, thousands of eligible voters with disabilities struggled to vote independently due to inaccessible polling environments, absence of assistive tools such as braille ballots and magnifying guides, inadequate signage, and a shortage of sign-language interpreters.
An election that excludes any segment of its citizens is an election that cannot fully claim legitimacy.
This Day is not for ceremonial observance; it is for recommitment. It reminds us that a society is not judged by the height of its skyscrapers but by how it elevates its most marginalised citizens. The journey toward an inclusive Nigeria will require consistency, courage, and collaboration. But the destination—a nation where every person, with or without disability, lives with dignity and contributes meaningfully to social, political and economic life—is undeniably worth it.
CEMESO calls on:
- The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and electoral stakeholders to prioritise disability-inclusive reforms. This includes ensuring all polling units are accessible, deploying assistive voting technologies nationwide, training polling officials in disability-sensitive election procedures, and expanding accessible voter education across radio, television, print, and digital media.
- The Federal and State Governments to enforce disability laws, adequately fund disability agencies, and mainstream accessibility across all sectors.
- The Media to amplify accurate and respectful narratives that challenge stigma and elevate the voices of persons with disabilities.
- Civil Society and DPOs to sustain grassroots advocacy, strengthen accountability efforts, and collaborate on inclusive development interventions.
- The Private Sector to open employment pathways and adopt inclusive organisational cultures.
- Communities and Citizens to reject harmful stereotypes and embrace diversity as a shared national value.
Let this International Day of Persons with Disabilities deepen our collective resolve. Let it move policies into practice, sympathy into systems, and intentions into measurable outcomes. Above all, let it remind us that “nothing about us without us” is not a slogan—it is a principle of justice.
Media Contact
Timothy Bamidele
Programme Manager
Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO)
tbamidele@cemesong.org
+234 805 654 4562
General Contact:
info@cemesong.org
