The Ogun State disability community on Tuesday called out Governor Dapo Abiodun over what it described as the government’s persistent refusal to gazette and implement the state’s disability law—eight years after it was signed.
Speaking at a press conference in Abeokuta, leaders of the various disability clusters expressed “deep disappointment” and said persons living with disabilities (PWDs) in the state had endured years of discrimination and exclusion due to government inaction.
The law, signed in 2017 by former Governor Ibikunle Amosun, has remained dormant, as it was never gazetted nor operationalised.
Activists said the incumbent administration, now in its sixth year, has also shown no concrete commitment to implementing or amending the legislation.
Addressing journalists, the Interim National President of the Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria (SCIAN), Abdulwahab Matepo, who spoke on behalf of the disability community, said the continued delay amounted to “oppression” of more than 15 per cent of the state’s population who live with disabilities.
“A law that is not implemented is the same as having no law at all. A promise that is delayed becomes a burden. A right that is ignored becomes oppression,” Matepo said.
He lamented that despite several engagements with top government officials—including the Speaker of the House of Assembly, commissioners, permanent secretaries and traditional rulers—nothing tangible had changed.
“Every year, we are told to exercise patience, yet every day we face discrimination and indignity. Eight years is too long for any population to wait for a law to work,” he added.
According to the group, representatives of all disability clusters held a comprehensive review workshop in January 2025, where experts highlighted major gaps in the 2017 law, including the absence of a disability agency and unrealistic provisions such as mandatory minimum wage payments to all PWDs.
They said the amended recommendations were submitted to the government, followed by advocacy visits to key institutions, but the effort still hit a brick wall.
“Everyone promised action. Everyone gave us hope. But promises are not implementation, and hope is not a strategy,” they lamented.
After months of unanswered letters and unreturned requests for meetings with top state officials, the community said their frustration deepened when the government proposed merging disability rights into a broader Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) bill.
“We made a categorical stand that disability rights must not be lumped into a DEI bill. They agreed. They promised again. But still, nothing has changed,” Matepo said.
The community also frowned at the handling of this year’s International Day of Persons With Disabilities (IDPD), saying the absence of a functional disability commission was evident in the poor planning and inaccessible venue.
“We were celebrated, yet sidelined. Recognised, yet not included. This is the charity model we are fighting against, because disability rights are not favours—they are human rights,” the group said.
The activists, however, commended the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Adijat Adeleye, describing her as “sincere and passionate,” but stressed that passion alone could not replace a legal framework.
Going into the final full year of the Abiodun administration, the group presented four demands: which were ; urgent re-enactment and gazetting of the disability law with the amendments developed during the multi-stakeholder workshop; and immediate establishment of the Ogun State Disability Commission with full staffing, funding and operational independence.
Others are ; creation of a dedicated disability budget line in the 2026 Appropriation Bill, to move inclusion from rhetoric to practice and enforcement of accessibility standards across all public buildings, ministries and infrastructure projects.
The group added “without a functional commission, every other promise is empty. Without funding, disability inclusion remains mere rhetoric.”
Calling directly on Governor Abiodun, the community urged him to use his remaining time in office to “make history.”
“Ogun State is too enlightened to allow more than 15 per cent of its population to live in exclusion. We are not asking for pity; we are asking for rights, for justice and for dignity,” they said.
The group vowed to continue advocacy until the law becomes operational.
“We will not be silent. We will continue to speak, to organise and to push until inclusion becomes a reality. Inclusion is not charity. It is justice, it is dignity, it is our right.”
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