The Albinism Association of Nigeria (AAN) has urged the Federal Government to implement the national policy on albinism.
In a communiqué signed by Programme Manager of the association, Joseph Akuse, at the end of a one-day meeting on Advancing policy implementation on inclusive education for persons with Albinism(PWAs) in Nigeria, AAN stressed the need for the implementation of the policy developed in 2012 and assented to in 2019.
It said: “In 2012, a Ministerial Committee was set up by the then Honourable Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, to develop a National Policy on Albinism. This immediately started with the involvement of multifarious committee comprising of representatives from Federal Ministries of Education, Health, Women Affairs and Social Development, Justice, Finance, Labour and Employment; Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and many other parastatals and private organizations.
“After the draft and justification of the policy through the appropriate quarters, it was finally assented in 2019 to last for a period of five years after which a review will be done to keep space with the current humanitarian and environmental activities. But unfortunately, this was not implemented as intended and up till now, PWAs are suffering and it seems there is no hope even though a national policy supporting our course of living was initiated.”
The association noted that the implementation should be based on four points, including, legal, education, health social security and other services.
It urged government and non-governmental organisations to provide visual and other learning aids for PWAs through Special Needs Education Branch at the federal, state and local government levels, adding that school counsellors and teachers should counsel and guide students on the albinism in basic, secondary and tertiary institutions.
