API organizes One-Day Multi-Stakeholder Workshop on the Nigeria Disability Research Project

Abuja, Nigeria, June 15, 2021 – Abuja-based opinion research think-tank, Africa Polling Institute (API), has organized a one-day stakeholder workshop on the Nigeria Disability Research Project. The Multi-Stakeholder workshop which is the preliminary meeting of the Nigeria Disability Research Project; a development effort led by Africa Polling Institute and supported by Ford Foundation, is aimed at gathering evidence-based disaggregated data on Persons With Disability (PWD) in the country.

In his welcome address, the Executive Director of the Institute, Professor Bell Ihua thanked participants for honoring the invitation, and made special mention of key stakeholders in the Disability Space and the Institute’s Research Scholars. He gave a brief introduction about the Institute and its opinion research activities since its inception. He thereafter gave a background on the Disability Research Project which is supported by Ford Foundation, and was born out of the need to have a Nigerian-owned data on people with Disabilities. He stated that one of the challenges that have been identified in the disability space is the lack of data, and to bridge this gap, the Institute has been mandated by Ford Foundation to midwife the process of populating data amongst the disability space. Professor Ihua further identified the four components of the project: (1) Gathering national data on Disability through the engagement of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the inclusion of Disability and Gender Indicators into NBS National Statistics; (2) Collaborate with Scholars to engage state government officials & state-level stakeholders to conduct action research on the domestication of the Disability Act; (3) Technical capacity building on Research for CSOs within the Disability Space; and (4) Study on Sexual and Gender-Based  amongst Persons with Disability (PWD).

In a goodwill message, Chief Executive Officer/Founder of The Albino Foundation, Mr. Jake Epelle, said “To make progress in this community, we must be associated with numbers disaggregated among PWDs”. He advised that the Africa Polling Institute should engage people with disabilities to help drive this project in the area of data collection and also believes that this will be the beginning of many good things within the disability space. Other goodwill messages were presented by the Centre for Citizens with Disability (CCD), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Federal Character Commission (FCC), The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD), Joint National Association of Persons with Disability (JONAPWD), The Abuja Association of the Deaf, amongst others. Finally, the research scholars gave brief presentations on the state of PWDs in the different geo-political zones and the domestication of the PWD Act at state levels. 

The Nigeria Disability Research Project is supported by Ford Foundation and is in partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) and other stakeholders. Africa Polling Institute (API) is an independent, non-profit and non-partisan opinion research think-tank, which conducts opinion polls, surveys, social research and evaluation studies at the intersection of democracy, governance, economic conditions, markets and public life. 

Signed 

Amarachi Nelly Charles,

Head, Corporate Services, API