Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

List of issues in relation to the initial report of Nigeria *

A.Purpose and general obligations (arts. 1–4)

1.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to review and harmonize all legislation, including sections 15 (2), 16 (2) (d) and 42 of the Constitution, and policies to adhere to the Convention and the human rights model of disability, in line with the Committee’s general comment No. 6 (2018) on equality and non-discrimination;

(b)The measures taken to ensure the implementation of the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, in all 36 states;

(c)The activities undertaken and the resources allocated to implement the National Policy on Disability, 2018, including the involvement of persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in this process;

(d)The measures taken to promote and support the establishment of self-governed organizations of persons with disabilities, in particular organizations of women with disabilities, and ensure their effective participation in the design, implementation and monitoring of legislation, policies and programmes.

B.Specific rights (arts. 5–30)

Equality and non-discrimination (art. 5)

2.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to legally recognize the denial of reasonable accommodation as a form of discrimination on the grounds of disability in the public and private spheres;

(b)The legal and other measures taken to prevent and address multiple and intersectional discrimination faced by persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls with disabilities, persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities and persons with albinism;

(c)Existing accessible and effective complaints mechanisms for persons with disabilities who are victims of discrimination, and the sanctions provided for in law against perpetrators of disability-based discrimination.

3.Please provide the number and percentage of claims of disability-based discrimination, disaggregated by sex, age, type of court, geographical location, sector in which the discrimination occurred, and sanctions imposed.

Women with disabilities (art. 6)

4.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)The way in which the rights of women and girls with disabilities are mainstreamed into legislation, policies and strategies, including the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015, the National Gender Policy, the National Policy on Gender in Basic Education, the National Framework on Girls’ and Women’s Education and the National Policy on Sexuality and Family Life;

(b)Efforts to include women with disabilities in the implementation of economic empowerment programmes, such as the fund for women’s economic empowerment and the business development fund for women, including details of the number of women with disabilities who have benefited from these initiatives;

(c)Strategies in place to ensure the participation and inclusion of women with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities living in rural areas, older women with disabilities and women and girls with disabilities belonging to minority groups, in education, employment and political participation, including the implementation of affirmative action policies to address their significant underrepresentation in decision‑making;

(d)The measures taken to establish a formal mechanism to ensure the effective participation of women with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in policy development and decision-making.

Children with disabilities (art. 7)

5.Please provide information on:

(a)The steps taken to review legislation, such as the Child’s Rights Act, 2003, and the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, and policies to include specific provisions on children with disabilities, and the extent to which children with disabilities, through their representative organizations, have been consulted and involved in this process;

(b)The system in place to enable children with disabilities, including children with multiple disabilities and children who are deafblind, to effectively participate and express their opinion on matters that affect them;

(c)The measures taken to ensure that the individual evolving capacities of children with disabilities are respected at all times in the determination of their best interests;

(d)Efforts made to provide parents and families of children with disabilities with information services and other social and financial support to take care of them, and to promote the participation of children with disabilities within the family and community;

(e)The measures taken to ensure that children with disabilities are fully protected from trafficking in persons and have full access to all protection mechanisms and related services;

(f)The measures taken to ensure the participation of children with disabilities in the Children’s Parliament, at both the state and the federal levels.

Awareness-raising (art. 8)

6.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken, including budgetary allocations, to raise awareness throughout society regarding the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly among persons with disabilities themselves, their parents and families, professional groups, government officials at all levels, the private sector, religious groups, the media and the general public, including at the community level, to combat stigmatization, stereotypes, harmful practices and deep-rooted cultural beliefs against persons with disabilities;

(b)The extent to which persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, are involved in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of awareness-raising strategies and campaigns;

(c)The role played by the media in portraying a positive image of persons with disabilities with regard to their contributions to public life.

Accessibility (art. 9)

7.Please provide information on:

(a)The outcome of the five-year transition period, under the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, within which modifications were to be made to ensure accessibility, the specific measures taken to enforce compliance with national accessibility requirements in the physical environment, in transport and in information and communications throughout the State party, particularly in rural areas, and the existing sanctions for failure to comply;

(b)The steps taken to adopt and implement national standards on accessibility, including specific timelines, and the involvement of persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in this process;

(c)The way in which the State Party intends to strengthen institutional awareness and capacity and increase funding to ensure accessibility in both physical and digital spaces throughout public and private entities.

Right to life (art. 10)

8.Please provide information on:

(a)The specific legal and policy measures taken to protect persons with disabilities, in particular persons with albinism and persons with angular kyphosis, from different forms of violence, including unlawful killings, and the measures taken to investigate such cases and to bring to justice those responsible for such crimes;

(b)The measures taken to protect children with disabilities from being targeted in the context of spiritual rituals;

(c)The measures taken to ensure that persons with disabilities are not arbitrarily sentenced to death.

Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies (art. 11)

9.Please provide information on:

(a)The efforts made by the State party to develop disability-inclusive laws, strategies and protocols for situations of risk, armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters, including droughts, floods and epidemics, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030;

(b)Plans to establish a targeted, sustainable humanitarian emergency framework, and to ensure that provision of information on disaster risks and related warnings is accessible to all persons with disabilities, regardless of type of impairment, in meaningful consultation with organizations of persons with disabilities;

(c)The measures in place to provide standardized training for emergency and humanitarian personnel on addressing the specific provision of rescue and emergency responses for persons with disabilities, while ensuring the inclusion of an age and a disability perspective on the basis of a human rights-based approach to disability;

(d)The measures taken to guarantee a human rights-based response for internally displaced persons with disabilities, particularly those who have been displaced for prolonged periods, including in relation to violence and armed conflict, and to provide internally displaced persons, refugees and migrants with disabilities with assistance and accessible and safe shelters.

Equal recognition before the law (art. 12)

10.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to review the State Party’s legislation with a view to repealing any law that deprives persons with disabilities, including persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, of their legal capacity;

(b)The measures taken to review legal and other policy measures, including the National Mental Health Act, 2021, that allow for substituted decision-making and to replace it with supported decision-making regimes that comply with the Convention.

Access to justice (art. 13)

11.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to provide for procedural, gender- and age-appropriate accommodation in judicial and administrative proceedings for persons with disabilities, including persons who are blind, deaf, hard of hearing or deafblind and persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, and to facilitate their access to the justice system;

(b)The measures taken to equip police stations, courts and prisons with accessible forms of communication, including the provision of sign language interpreters, accessible information in alternative formats, physical access to its structures and services and the provision of free legal aid to persons with disabilities in conflict with the law;

(c)The measures taken to ensure the systematic and continuous training of personnel in the judicial system and law enforcement agencies, including police and prison officers, to promote and ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities;

(d)The current conditions of persons with disabilities in prisons, including their number and the accommodation provided to them.

Liberty and security of person (art. 14)

12.Please provide information on:

(a)The steps taken to revise and amend laws, policies and practices, including the National Mental Health Act, 2021, that allow for the involuntary hospitalization of persons with disabilities, on the basis of perceived or actual impairment;

(b)Plans to strengthen accountability mechanisms to prevent indefinite detention and ensure procedural fairness for persons with disabilities in forensic and custodial settings;

(c)The measures in place to prevent the incarceration of persons with disabilities in rural communities on the basis of negative attitudes, myths and superstitions about disability.

Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 15)

13.Please provide:

(a)Information on efforts made to explicitly prohibit acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons with disabilities, particularly persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, in health facilities, psychiatric hospitals and other care facilities and in family settings;

(b)Information on the measures taken to address degrading and cruel treatment of persons with disabilities, under the pretext of healing, in prayer and healing camps;

(c)Information on plans to establish and operationalize independent mechanisms to regularly monitor detention centres, psychiatric hospitals and other institutions where persons with disabilities are at risk of ill-treatment, and the safeguards in place to prevent forced treatment without free and informed consent;

(d)Statistics for the past five years, disaggregated by type of impairment, sex, age and geographical location, on the number of cases relating to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons with disabilities, and information on the measures taken to investigate and prosecute cases, provide redress for victims and impose sanctions on perpetrators.

Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse (art. 16)

14.Please provide updated information on:

(a)The specific measures taken to prohibit gender-based violence against and exploitation and abuse of persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities, persons with albinism and persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, in all settings, including at home and in institutions, and in rural and urban areas, including the remedies available to persons with disabilities subjected to such abuse;

(b)The measures taken to provide the necessary protection and support services, such as accessible temporary shelters, psychological support and legal aid, to persons with disabilities who are survivors of exploitation, violence or abuse, particularly women and girls with disabilities;

(c)The appropriate channels to report instances of exploitation, violence, abuse and neglect in any setting and the measures in place to hold perpetrators of gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities accountable;

(d)The legislative and other measures taken to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment of any kind, in the family, in schools and in other institutions.

Protecting the integrity of the person (art. 17)

15.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to protect persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities, from being subjected to involuntary family planning medication, forced sterilization, forced abortion and female genital mutilation;

(b)The legal measures taken to prohibit the use of immobilizing equipment and physical or chemical restraints and forced treatment in psychiatric care units;

(c)The measures taken to prohibit the use of amputation as punishment, as applied by sharia courts in 12 states.

Liberty of movement and nationality (art. 18)

16.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)The strategies in place to amend discriminatory provisions in the Immigration Act, 1963, such as sections 18 (1) (b) and 39 (1), to ensure that it aligns with the Convention and protects the liberty of movement and nationality of persons with disabilities;

(b)The steps taken to ensure that all persons with disabilities acquire national identity documents at the required age, including those in rural areas and in areas affected by armed conflict, without discrimination on the basis of disability.

Living independently and being included in the community (art. 19)

17.Please provide information on:

(a)Efforts made by the State Party to implement and monitor the right of persons with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community, in particular the support available in the community for persons with disabilities to decide where, how and with whom they live, and any budgetary allocations in place for support services, including assistive devices, technology and personal assistance for persons with disabilities;

(b)The measures taken to move away from institutional care settings and invest in accessible community facilities, goods and services, such as access to the labour market, transportation, housing, education, health, recreational activities and other facilities, goods and services available to the general public, in order to combat the isolation, marginalization, exclusion and segregation of persons with disabilities.

Personal mobility (art. 20)

18.Please provide information on:

(a)The strategies in place to establish a structured and sustainable system for the production, distribution and maintenance of affordable assistive technologies and mobility aids, to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities;

(b)The existing legal and policy measures that are available to support persons with disabilities in enhancing their personal mobility, including the provision of mobility aids, assistive devices and other assistive technologies and forms of live assistance and intermediaries, and information and communications technology, in particular in rural areas and areas affected by armed conflict;

(c)The steps being taken to improve public infrastructure, including accessible transportation systems and public buildings, to support the independent mobility of persons with disabilities and ensure their full inclusion in society;

(d)Efforts made to provide training in mobility skills to persons with disabilities and to specialist staff working with persons with disabilities.

Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information (art. 21)

19.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to adopt and officially recognize Nigerian sign language in law and to increase the number of qualified sign language interpreters;

(b)The measures taken to ensure the provision, by both private and public media, of audio description, captioning and sign language interpretation for television programmes;

(c)The measures taken to improve access to information in all accessible formats, including Braille, large print, Easy Read and other augmentative and alternative means and modes of communication;

(d)The steps taken to make websites that are available to the general public accessible and to provide Internet services to all persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.

Respect for privacy (art. 22)

20.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to enforce section 37 of the Constitution, in order to ensure respect for the right of persons with disabilities to privacy, including by raising awareness among family members and caregivers, sanctioning any violations and providing remedies;

(b)Efforts made to enhance the capacity of public and private sector actors, particularly in the police and healthcare services, to respect and protect the privacy of persons with disabilities in compliance with the Convention.

Respect for home and the family (art. 23)

21.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to enable persons with disabilities, especially women with disabilities and persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, to exercise their rights with regard to home and the family, parenthood (including adoptive and foster parents) and relationships, and to increase awareness among the general public about these rights;

(b)The measures taken to strengthen the services available to parents and families of children with disabilities and to parents with disabilities, including information services and other social and financial support to fulfil their parental responsibilities.

Education (art. 24)

22.Please provide updated information on:

(a)The measures taken, including strategies or action plans, to transition from segregated education to an inclusive education system, in order to ensure the right of persons with disabilities to inclusive education, without discrimination, including the provision of individualized support to learners with disabilities in mainstream schools;

(b)The operationalization of the National Policy on Inclusive Education, which is reported to have been hindered by factors including a lack of an implementation framework, inadequate funding and lack of monitoring, especially in rural areas;

(c)The budget allocated, as a proportion of the total education budget, to the training of teaching staff, support staff and non-teaching staff on the core competencies and values required for working in inclusive education;

(d)Efforts to ensure that public schools are accessible to children with disabilities, including the provision of accessible classrooms, toilets, teaching and learning materials and transportation systems, particularly in rural areas and in regions affected by insecurity, terrorism and armed conflict;

(e)The measures in place to ensure the learning of science, including information and communications technology, and mathematics by students with visual impairments at all levels of education;

(f)The measures taken to promote access to higher education for persons with disabilities.

Health (art. 25)

23.Please provide information on:

(a)Systematic training provided, with the involvement of organizations of persons with disabilities, to health personnel and traditional birth attendants on the rights of persons with disabilities, including women and girls with disabilities, in terms of access to healthcare and health services;

(b)The measures taken to ensure access for persons with disabilities to the healthcare infrastructure, health services and public health education, in particular community-based health services, including HIV/AIDS services and sexual and reproductive health services, in urban and remote rural areas and in areas affected by armed conflict;

(c)The measures taken to improve the situation of persons with disabilities in detention, particularly with regard to their access to health services, hygiene, food, medical care and mobility.

Habilitation and rehabilitation (art. 26)

24.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to ensure that habilitation and rehabilitation services and programmes for persons with disabilities promote the greatest possible degree of autonomy and their full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life in the community;

(b)Progress made by the federal Government in establishing a national rehabilitation institute and ensuring that there is a rehabilitation centre in each of the 774 local government areas.

Work and employment (art. 27)

25.Please do the following:

(a)Provide information on the specific legal and policy measures in place to improve the rate of employment of persons with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, in the open labour market, including on the implementation of affirmative action programmes such as the quota of 10 per cent of the workforce at the federal level, as directed by Government in 2016, and the impact of this quota on employment of persons with disabilities in the public sector, and provide data on persons with disabilities who are employed in the public and private sectors;

(b)Provide information on the measures taken to prohibit discrimination in recruitment processes and to ensure accessibility, fair conditions of service, career advancement, a safe working environment and equal pay for work of equal value for persons with disabilities;

(c)Provide information on incentives provided to private sector employers to promote the employment of persons with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities;

(d)Specify whether disability-based discrimination in employment, including the denial of reasonable accommodation, is prohibited by law and, if so, provide information on the sanctions provided for by law on employers who do not comply with the relevant legislation and the remedies available to victims of such discrimination.

Adequate standard of living and social protection (art. 28)

26.Please provide updated information on:

(a)The measures taken to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living and to social protection, including measures to ensure support for disability-related requirements;

(b)The measures taken to address the systemic barriers and improve targeted outreach to ensure that persons with disabilities benefit equitably from social protection programmes and policy, such as the National Social Investment Programme, the National Health Insurance Scheme and measures to cover additional, disability-related costs.

Participation in political and public life (art. 29)

27.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to amend or repeal discriminatory provisions in the Constitution and the Electoral Act in order to ensure respect for the right of persons with disabilities, including persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, to stand for election and hold public office;

(b)The measures taken to increase the representation of women, including women with disabilities, in decision-making positions and in elected and appointed political bodies, in rural and urban areas;

(c)The measures taken to ensure that electoral processes are fully accessible to all persons with disabilities, including the provision of an accessible physical environment and of information in accessible formats for all persons with disabilities.

Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport (art. 30)

28.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken, and the budget allocated, to ensure that persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, can participate in inclusive sporting, leisure and cultural activities;

(b)Efforts to increase the accessibility of cultural, sporting, recreational and leisure spaces to persons with disabilities, both in rural and urban areas;

(c)The level of implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled and the budget allocated for this purpose.

C.Specific obligations (arts. 31–33)

Statistics and data collection (art. 31)

29.Please provide information on:

(a)The measures taken to improve the collection, analysis and dissemination of disaggregated qualitative and quantitative data on persons with disabilities and to develop data-collection tools in this regard, using the Washington Group short set of questions on functioning and its related methodology and including it in tools such as the National Social Register to ensure the accurate identification and inclusion of all persons with disabilities in all policies and programmes;

(b)The steps taken to meaningfully consult and actively engage persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in the process of designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating data-collection systems.

International cooperation (art. 32)

30.Please explain how persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, are consulted and involved in decisions on international agreements, in particular with regard to access to international cooperation funds that are intended for disability-related programmes or that target persons with disabilities.

31.Please indicate how disability is incorporated into development policies and programmes, especially those designed to further the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Please also indicate how persons with disabilities participate in the implementation and monitoring of development policies and plans that affect them.

National implementation and monitoring (art. 33)

32.Please provide information on:

(a)The mandate, activities and designation of members of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the human, technical and financial resources allocated to it in order to carry out its mandate;

(b)The steps taken to address the recommendations of the Subcommittee on Accreditation, of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and strengthen the National Human Rights Commission to ensure that it can effectively and independently discharge its mandate in full compliance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles), and to monitor the implementation of the Convention;

(c)The measures taken to ensure the meaningful involvement of organizations of persons with disabilities in monitoring the enjoyment by persons with disabilities of their rights under the Convention, including the provision of sufficient funding and capacity‑building initiatives to enable them to perform their roles adequately.