Nigeria Business Disability Network hosted the maiden edition of the Nigeria diversity and inclusion conference

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6 Jul 2022

The Nigeria Business Disability Network has hosted the inaugurated Nigeria Diversity and Inclusion Conference as a platform to bring private sector organisations together to share knowledge, experience and best practices in workplace disability inclusion.

As part of efforts promoting inclusive workplace and job opportunities in Nigerian formal sector, the Nigeria Business Disability Network (NBDN) hosted the inaugural Nigeria Diversity and Inclusion Conference on Thursday 19 May 2022. The one-day conference, which was held in commemoration of the Global Accessibility Day, was themed “Eliminating barriers against inclusive workplaces in the private sector.” It brought together private sector organisations, as well as the public sector and organisations of persons with disabilities to share knowledge, experience, and call national attention to the barriers to inclusive workplace policies, processes, program, and platforms. Employees with disabilities in the formal sector also shared their experiences.

The event had a keynote speaker, Dr. Adebukola Adebayo, a disability consultant with the World Bank in Nigeria, and a goodwill address delivered by Mr. James Lalu, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria. There were also three panel sessions where private sector actors shared their experiences, challenges, and success stories in their journeys to disability inclusive workplaces. The topics of the panel sessions are: Promoting disability accessibility through enforceable organizational policies and processes; Programming and designing for inclusion: what is working; and Seeing is believing the experiences of employees with disabilities in the private sector.

The hybrid event had over 64o participants, inclusive of 19 speakers representing different private sector organisations. Forty organisations were represented, including NBDN member organisations such as Access Bank, Airtel Nigeria, Standard Chartered Bank, Unilever Nigeria, Friesland Campina, MTN Nigeria Communication, Chevron, British American Tobacco, Project Enable Africa, Guinness Nigeria (Diego Group), Ikeja Electric, Sightsavers, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management. Non-NBDN organisations also attended and indicated interest to join the network. The event was hosted by MTN Nigeria Communication, and chaired by Access Bank’s Head of Sustainability, Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan, the chairperson of the Network.


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