Nigeria Content Online

The
Lagos State government may soon start fining owners of public buildings
that do not have entry points for physically challenged people.

This was made known yesterday by the former Deputy Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Funmilayo Tejusoho.

The legislator made
the disclosure during the plenary session on Transportation (Road,
Rail, Water, Air): Infrastructure, Institution and Operations at the
ongoing 5th Lagos State Economic Summit at the Eko Hotel and Suites.

Mrs. Tejuosho said
that a bill on people with disabilities is already before the Assembly
and will soon be passed into law. She said the bill demands that “all
public buildings within the state will be given five years to put
everything in place that will allow easy entry for people with
disability to gain entry into the building.”

According to Mrs
Tejusoho, “the House recently got hold of reports of how a bank denied
access to a disabled person because the fellow had metals on his body.

“Once the law is
passed, it becomes an offence for any owner of a public building such
as the banks not to provide alternative or necessary entry points for
people with disabilities. The offender will be fined a fee of N20,000
per day till the bridge is appeased,” she stated.

The former Deputy
Speaker was reacting to a question posed to her by a member of the
Association of People with Disability in Nigeria, who alleged that the
state is neglecting physically challenged people in its infrastructural
development. According to him, the Bus Rapid Transport scheme in the
state does not provide for people with disabilities.

The Managing
Director of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA),
Dayo Mobereola stated that “provisions are also being made in all
infrastructures being developed in the state to give access to the
physically challenged.”

He noted that
“highways and bridges that are being constructed are done with this
precaution in mind” assuring that the next set of BRT buses that will
soon be launched will have adequate provision for the disabled.

The official stated
that “the agency in the last two years has being conducting a study on
how to address the disability issue and the impact of the study will
soon be seen across the state.”