GDGI Unveils 5yr Plan To Integrate PWDs In Climate Change Agenda

A five-year strategic plan aimed at integrating persons with disabilities, PWDs, into Nigeria’s climate agenda has been launched.

The Plan which was unveiled by a Non Governmental Organization, the Global Disabilities Green Initiative, GDGI, at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja seeks to train 10,000 PWDs to become green economy leaders by 2030.

GDGI founder Angelina Ugben said the plan was borne out of a vision to bridge the gap between disability and sustainability, and to shift narratives that have long excluded PWDs from environmental policymaking.

According to Ugben, the initiative is focused on equipping PWDs with clean energy skills, creating inclusive entrepreneurship opportunities, and ensuring that climate policies are co-designed with disabled communities.

She described the movement not as an act of charity, but as justice in action.

She explained that since its inception eight months ago, GDGI has already begun implementing pilot projects and advocacy campaigns, both nationally and internationally.

These efforts, she said, reflect a growing momentum for disability-inclusive climate action across Nigeria and the broader African continent.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Persons With Disabilities, Bashiru Dawodu, commended the initiative and affirmed the legislature’s support for its objectives.

Represented by a member of the committee, Moses Fayinka , Dawodu emphasized that over 30 million PWDs in Nigeria face systemic challenges, and that inclusive environmental policies are essential to breaking down such barriers.

He recalled that the 2018 Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Act is now fully in effect, following the expiration of its moratorium in January 2024, and said the committee had begun monitoring compliance.

Also speaking at the event, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Garba Magaji, who represented the minister, pledged the ministry’s full support.

He described the five-year plan as a timely and necessary intervention to ensure that disability is no longer an afterthought in climate development policies.

Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji