On a sunny morning in mid-October 2024, Chikamso Ogbu stood by the front wall of Okpara Hall, one of the female hostels at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in Enugu State, south-east Nigeria.
Save for Ms Ogbu’s frequent gropes and occasional calls for help to passers-by, no one would suspect that the 300-level undergraduate was visually impaired. She wore no eyeglasses nor had a stick in her hand to indicate she was blind.
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She wanted to attend a lecture in her class, but would need an aid to get to the class.
Her hopes were raised when she noticed that two ladies – also undergraduates – were passing by. She appealed to them to help take her to class, but the female undergraduates rebuffed her.
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She had spent more than an hour and became already frustrated when her friend, who often guided her, arrived. Together, they hurried to the class – carefully climbing the stair-cases. They would later find out the class had been cancelled.
“Everything is just traumatising,” she said of the difficulty in getting to the class.
“Sometimes, after considering what it takes to get to class: the steps, the stony pathways, and being ignored by others, I would rather not go.”
Neglect, discrimination
For years, blind students in UNN, like other persons with disabilities, have been battling discrimination and neglect from other students and university officials.
The absence of good hostel facilities usable by persons with disability and the lack of walkways has made life tough for blind students and other persons with disability in UNN, this investigation shows.
Discrimination of persons with disabilities and lack of accessibility aids are in violation of the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018.
Nearly all persons with disability interviewed during investigations have at one point fallen into gutters while groping with their sticks to classes or other engagements.
Blind students are usually accommodated in hostels together with sighted students despite the hostel blocks lacking accessibility aids such as elevators and ramps. The situation is the same in all the classrooms visited by these reporters in the course of this investigation.
In addition, the two male hostels in the university – especially Eni-Njoku – have become reference points for poor electrical connections.
Wires often dangle dangerously in hostel rooms and corridors, putting the lives of students, especially blind students, at risk.
In one such situation, on 14 June 2021, Emeka Ezeudo, a blind third-year music student at the time, died from electrocution in his hostel.
His death was initially attributed to suicide despite witnesses confirming he was electrocuted. At the time, blind students in the university protested against the death of Mr Ezeudo. Many of them said authorities had remained mute despite their frequent complaints about safety hazards, including electrocution risks, in hostels.
The then Dean of the Students Affairs of the institution, Edwin Omeje, would later promise to carry out an investigation into the incident.
“The investigation showed that the student, Ezeudo, was electrocuted,” Mr Omeje, a professor, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES on 4 December 2024.
The former dean said the investigation showed that the deceased blind student had stepped out at midnight at the hostel unaided and mistakenly stepped on water near a naked electrical wire, leading to his electrocution.
About a year later, Daniel Mbadiwe*, a male blind student of mass communication department also suffered a non-fatal electrocution at Eni-Njoku hostel when he wanted to plug his phone charger into a socket.
“I thought I would die like Emeka Ezeudo,” Mr Mbadiwe said. “The table, the floor, the walls – everything was electrocuting. I cannot wish even my enemy what I experienced with the poor connection,” he said.
Sad tales of discrimination, non-inclusivity of blind students
Ms Ogbu, Mr Mbadiwe and late Mr Ezeudo were not the only people who had battled discrimination and faced challenges of lack of accessibility aids in UNN. Other blind students who spoke to our correspondents shared similar experiences.
Some of the blind students narrated how they struggle to move around the campus because they often face the risk of being knocked down by speeding vehicles. Because of absence of walk-ways, they sometimes bruise their legs, scrape their hands, or hit their heads against stones and tree branches.
They are now easily identified by their scarred legs and swollen heads. But their challenges are often exacerbated by the attitude of sighted students on campus.
On one occasion in March 2024, there was water scarcity in university hostels. While other students easily hustled for water from other sources outside the hostel environments, blind students only imagined it.
Emerson Okoro*, a first-year student, decided to braze the odds by helping himself with sachet water and heading to the classroom without aid.
But the university environment was not as friendly as he thought. He eventually fell into a gutter and injured himself.
“I felt like I should not have even come here,” Mr Okoro said.
Our findings also show that some sighted students discriminate against persons with disability in UNN.
“One day I was going to class, and I begged one of my classmates to help me hold one of the blind students as I couldn’t hold five of them, but he said that he cannot touch her,” said Favour Chukwuebuka, a 300-level student of Special Needs education, who guides blind students in UNN.
Some students tag mobile cane, a vital tool used by blind students for navigation, as a curse symbol. In classrooms, blind students are sometimes ignored by sighted students and left to sign attendance on hardcopy materials themselves without aid.
“The only time people help is when we have already fallen into a gutter, crashed into a wall, or tripped from a height,” Uchechukwu Nnabuife*, a blind student, lamented.
Like students, like lecturers
Like some sighted students, some lecturers contribute to making life tough for blind students in the university, investigations showed.
Some hold impromptu tests and assignments without any consideration for persons living with disability, especially the blind students. Such impromptu tests and assignments leave blind students scrambling to find someone who could transcribe for them.
Ms Ogbu said like other blind students, she felt discriminated against even when she did the right thing.
“If I don’t submit on time, I have to run after lecturers. And when I do submit on time, they (lecturers) assume someone helped me cheat,” she said, shrugging off in shock.
During examinations, blind students are permitted to bring in anyone from a different department who could help write what they dictate as answers to examination questions which are usually read out to them. Those who can do such examination with their laptops are permitted.
But in examinations halls, accusations of cheating are sometimes made against blind students without evidence, especially when the blind students, guided by their aids, step out to print out their answer sheets for submission.
“I was accused of bringing an outsider to cheat for me,” Chigozie Okeke*, another blind student, said, almost sobbing.
“It’s so humiliating.”
An official of the Association of Students with Special Needs (ASSN) in UNN said the body had repeatedly asked for a resource centre equipped with laptops for blind students writing examinations. But the university management has ignored the request.
“When someone writes for me, it feels empty. If only they would provide laptops (for blind students writing exams), maybe we wouldn’t face this constant harassment,” the official, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, said.
“Everything here is stressful for a visually impaired student.”
What the law says
About 15 per cent of Nigeria’s population or at least 25 million people are living with a disability, according to World Health Organisation’s 2011 World Disability Report.
In 2023, the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) reported that the figure has jumped to 35.1 million Nigerians living with disabilities.
Earlier in 2018, Nigeria enacted the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, following nine years of advocacy by disability groups and activists in Nigeria. It was signed into law on 23 January 2019 by the then President, Muhammadu Buhari
The Act seeks to, among other provisions, eliminate discrimination against persons with disability, ensure their access to public buildings and vehicles, and foster inclusive education in all public organisations.
The Act also ordered provision of road side-walks, pedestrian crossings and all other special facilities for the persons living with disability.
The Act imposes sanctions in the form of fines and imprisonment for defaulters. The Act also established the NCPWD to oversee the prevention of discrimination against persons with disabilities and to ensure disability inclusion across all sectors.
Importantly, the Act stipulates a five-year transitional period for public buildings and structures to become accessible and usable for persons with disability. This implies that that the law could not be enforced until January 2024.
But despite the existence this Act, UNN and many other Nigerian universities have not put infrastructure in place for blind students. Blind students in UNN, like in other universities, still suffer discrimination, especially during examinations. The university management has yet to introduce policies guiding conduct of examinations for blind students in the institution.
While some departments require blind students to personally arrange for aids who will help them in writing examinations, others insist that blind students can only take exams if they bring their laptops or typewriters.
Some of the blind students complained that the requirement imposes double financial and logistical burdens on them. Many of the students have repeatedly suffered denial of opportunities to participate in exams with attendant effect on their mental health.
Zero inclusivity
Section 18 (1) of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act demands that all public schools, whether primary, secondary or tertiary, shall be run to be inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities.
In UNN, students are sometimes forced by some lecturers to buy hard-copy text books and other materials as part of their Continuous Assessment.
Blind students are shocked that lecturers also compel them to buy the hard-copy materials too despite their apparent inability to read them.
Mr Okeke, a blind student, recalled that a lecturer in his department had mocked blind students who had complained that they would only be able to read soft-copy textbooks, not hard-copy which he had instructed them to buy at the rate N 5,500 per copy.
“He has never provided us with a soft copy or any alternative. It’s embarrassing and frustrating,” Mr Okeke lamented.
“I have studied for hours, but because I didn’t buy the textbook, I got an E. It’s not just me—every four of the blind students in that class gets the same result in every course taught by this particular lecturer, regardless of the effort we put in,” another blind student, who asked not be named, said.
“We get the grade they think we deserve, not what we earned,” he lamented.
Blind students, like others, were required to buy hard-copy textbooks for courses like Centre for Development and Entrepreneurship Research, Nigeria Peoples and Culture, Introduction to Computer Sciences.
In some of the courses, students are also required to buy textbooks and register them to receive a workbook which would be used for grading students.
Marvelous Igwurube*, a blind student of psychology, was shocked to learn, in her third year, that she had failed PSY 311 (Statistics). That was her first time of failing a course in the university. On her examination day, her reader was accused of impersonation and chased out of the exam hall despite.
Ms Igwurube was devastated because the lecturer had given her assurances of help when she informed him that she would need someone who would help to read out the formulas in the script for her to answer the questions.
With tears rolling down her cheeks, the blind student struggled to write the examination after her aid was asked to leave the hall. Not even her pleas to the lecturer to be lenient in marking her script were heeded.
Like UNN, like UNIBEN and UNIZIK
Like in the UNN, cases of discriminations and non-inclusivity of blind students are rife in the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (NAU, popularly known as UNIZIK), this newspaper gathered.
Findings by our correspondents showed that there has been no record of prosecution despite the widespread violation of the provision across the Nigerian universities.
At UNIZIK for instance, many visually impaired students prefer to stay in lodges outside the campus for privacy, security, and better treatment. Some of the students attribute the reason to poor condition of hostels and stony pathways in the institution.
Favour Mbadiwe*, a blind UNZIK law student, believes that resources for accessibility, such as screen readers and exam support, are limited in the institution.
Again, Mr Mbadiwe said although he had not yet suffered harassment, lecturers often doubt their ability to learn, adapt and compete with sighted students.
He said despite promises, the university management had yet to address mobility challenges and provide materials in audio format for visually students.
The situation is the same at UNIBEN.
At UNIBEN, blind students say they often buy textbooks that are not disability friendly. One of them, Hahamie David*, said the blind students are groaning over lack of soft copy materials particularly in general studies courses and limited access to the library.
Mr David, a student of special education in UNIBEN, added that accessibility to certain campus areas has also been a challenge.
UNN silent
Okwun Omeaku, the UNN spokesperson, was unavailable when our correspondents visited his office on 3 December 2024. When contacted on telephone, Mr Omeaku said he lost a family relative and would speak on the matter.
But he has not responded to subsequent calls and text messages seeking his comments.
Poor implementation
Nigerian universities have done little to implement the disability Act as evident in the lack of accessible infrastructure, discriminatory practices, and inadequate hostel facilities, said Ecstasy Gentle, a human rights lawyer based in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
Mr Gentle noted that lack of awareness of the Act was partly responsible for its poor implementations in Nigeria.
The lawyer challenged visually impaired students to report cases of discrimination to university authorities and seek redress in court if no action was taken.
“The law empowers you to act,” he said.
“Injustices will persist if you stay silent. Know your rights, seek a lawyer, and hold institutions accountable.”
On his part, Onyebuchi Mba, the chairperson of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, Enugu State Chapter, believes that policymakers have failed to fully integrate persons with disabilities into the education system.
Mr Mba, who is also the South-east Zonal coordinator of the Nigerian Association of the Blind, stressed that inclusive education should eliminate segregation and ensure equal opportunities.
He, however, argued that the disability Act of 2018 does not adequately address all the requirements for a truly inclusive educational environment.
“Negative societal attitudes and ignorance of legal provisions hinder progress,” he said, calling for active involvement from the ministries of education and information to promote inclusivity.
Survey findings
Blind students and other students with special needs suffer lack of support services and assistance from sighted colleagues in UNN, UNIZIK and UNIBEN, a survey study conducted across the universities by our correspondents revealed.
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The study also showed that in all three institutions, majority of the blind students have no access to physical facilities while authorities of the universities often make promises to address concerns without taking any action.
It further revealed that majority of the blind students across the three institutions are frequently being threatened by lecturers to purchase specific materials for continuous assessment which they cannot read due to their disability.
Other findings of the study include the following:
· Majority of blind students in UNN (64 per cent) were often harassed or accused of cheating during examinations while a minority (24 per cent) witnessed such harassment and accusation in UNIZIK and UNIZIK has not recorded such incident.
· Majority of the blind students across the institutions rely on people who read out examination questions for them.
· Across the three institutions, the poor quality of adapted materials and attitudes of lecturers were affecting majority of the blind students academically.
· With the exception of UNIBEN, the level of exclusion and discrimination are high in UNN and UNIZIK.
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