The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, (ATCON) has commended the Lagos State Government House of Assemble for enacting the Lagos State Special People’s Law 2011, which seeks to safeguard people living with disability from all forms of discrimination and equalise their opportunities in all aspects of living in the society.
The Law provides for protection of the interest of persons who live with disabilities and particularly addresses the issues of protection for them on matters of access, employment, privileges, and standard of living, among others.
President of the association, Engr Titi Omo-Ettu also commended the state over its plan establish the Office of Disability Affairs that the Law prescribes as the Implementation Agency.
According to Omo-Ettu, the legislation which is capable of lifting Nigeria out of a so-called third-world classification into one which truly counts among those that have climbed into true civilisation.
“We pledge to support the implementation of the Law in the hope that its operators implement with a human face and in the spirit and letter of its objects and prescriptions”, he said.
He disclosed that “the Law has a bearing to our industry in its prescription on access of persons who live with disabilities to telecommunications services which it specifically mentions and indeed access of such persons to all other services which it presents largely as implied”.
While inviting members of ATCON to take into cognisance the operation of the law in the state, he said other players in our industry, and indeed all employers of labour in the land should accord priority to people with disability.
He urged other State Governments and indeed the Federal Government to take a lesson from this law and do the needful to ensure its national embrace and progressive implementation.
According to him:“We certainly cannot continue to ignore the significant contribution which those, among us, who live with disabilities, are capable of bringing into productivity and national development”.
He also called on the soon to be established Office of Disability Affairs to do good and not turn out to be an exuberant organisation whose attention would only be to extort, abuse, or focus only on a particular industry or on a set of employers.
No comments:
Post a Comment