PRESS RELEASE
STOP SPONSORING A FRAUDULENTLY CORRUPT AND DIVISIVE SUMMIT IN THE NAME OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.
Issued by:
The Pioneers of Nigeria’s National and International Disability Civil Rights Movement and Policy Changers / UN CRPD Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM)
Date: 25th October 2025
The Pioneers of Nigeria’s National and International Disability Civil Rights Movement and Policy Changers / UN CRPD Independent Monitoring Mechanism wish to alert the public, international donor agencies, and development partners that the proposed Nigeria National Disability Summit (NNDS) 2025, scheduled for October 29–30, 2025, in Abuja, is ill-conceived, misleading, and deeply harmful to Nigeria’s disability community and Nigeria in general.
While the event’s theme, “Inclusive Nigeria: Empowering Persons with Disabilities for Sustainable Development,” sounds noble, the reality is that the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD)—the main organizer—has become a corruption & Fraud-ridden institution, plagued by unaccounted contract scandals, nepotism, and systemic mismanagement of funds meant to serve over 40 million Nigerians with disabilities. We strongly assert that the so-called “National Disability Summit” is a calculated attempt to derail ongoing forensic investigations currently being conducted by various Nigerian law enforcement agencies in collaboration with our movement’s Pioneers. This summit is designed to divert public attention and mislead international partners into legitimizing a failed and compromised leadership. It represents a deliberate conspiracy to obstruct ongoing investigations and conceal a vast collection of verifiable evidence that clearly exposes widespread corruption and fraudulent practices within the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD).
OUR POSITION
- The NCPWD’s failure to account for billions of naira in contract scams has worsened the economic hardship facing 40 million Nigerians with disabilities (PWDs).
- The summit is being used as a public relations smokescreen to sanitize those responsible for years of impunity and exclusion.
- The infighting and rivalry between the NCPWD, the Office of the SSA to the President on Special Needs and Equal Opportunity (Disability Matters), and the APC National Disability Leadership have crippled meaningful progress in the disability sector.
- The sponsorship of this summit by reputable organizations—including GIZ Nigeria, the European Union, the governments of Germany and Switzerland, International IDEA (RoLAC), and Sightsavers—risks legitimizing the bad culture of endemic corruption with impunity, and disunity within the Nigerian disability movement, which will also exacerbate Nigeria’s ongoing insecurity, terrorism, kidnapping, bandits, irreconcilable community disputes, food insecurity, violence against women, and toxic, stressful, traumatic, and deadly environments, including the opportunity to successfully monitor and combat climate change. Also, your direct support and involvement at the Summit undermine HE President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Renewed Hope Agenda’s mission, vision, and goals of finding long-lasting sustainable solutions to the seriously damaged nation, especially insecurity, which he inherited from the previous administration.
OUR CALL TO ACTION
We therefore call on all international development partners, embassies, and donor agencies to withdraw their funding and participation from this deceptive summit, as it’s a bold attempt to cover up the National Commission’s endemic corruption and fraud, which will definitely tarnish their image and reputations.
Instead, we urge them to support genuine, community-based, disability-inclusive reform initiatives led by credible and transparent advocates across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas.
We invite all persons with Disabilities and concerned Nigerians to join our national broadcast discussion on Sunday, November 2, 2025, at 10:00 AM, where we will collectively expose the truth and seek a united path toward justice, accountability, and inclusion.
SIGNED:
Lady Omotunde Ellen Thomson – Life Chairperson, Board of Trustees (BoT), JONAPWD (National)
Chief Eric Ndubueze Ufom – President/CEO, ERPWDI
Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Lonsdale Oladeji Adeoye (Rtd) – President/CEO, Foundation for the Support of Military Veterans of Nigeria
Job Napoleon Agbor, aka Hurricane—Disability Civil Rights Movement & Policy Changer Advocate / Coordinator, DCRM Ad Hoc Consortium
God bless over 40 million Nigerians with disabilities.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.