The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Strengthening Advocacy Civic Engagement (SACE) programme, is supporting the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) in Nigeria.

The international support is coming in the area of implementing a 4-year project on strengthening the capacity of disabled people's organisations and relevant stakeholders to promote access of children with disabilities to inclusive basic education in the country.

The project, according to USAID, is fashioned towards addressing inclusivity and accessibility gaps in the implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) in Nigeria.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Akwa Ibom and Kwara states, are the chosen locations where the projects would be implemented. JONAPWD, according to THISDAY findings, had already conducted baseline survey in September this year to effectively commence the projects.

The association said with the support of USAID-SACE in the projects, it was committed to collaborate with relevant stakeholders with a view to ensuring that the UBE Act was reviewed and a national policy on inclusive education was developed and implemented. It said it would ensure that all primary and secondary schools in Nigeria are modeled and remodeled to meet global standards of inclusion and accessibility to children with disabilities, among others.

The organisation stressed that it would also work assiduously hard, with a view to ensuring that Article 24 of the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are effectively keyed into the promotion and implementation of inclusive education in Nigeria.

Goal 4 of the new SDGs seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all, with targets set for the year 2030.