The Center for Ability Rehabilitation and Empowerment in Nigeria (CARENigeria) was founded in 2014 by Dr. Chike Okogwu, a spinal cord victor from a freak car crash in on December 15 2006 that left him paraplegic from the waist down. The key aim of CARENigeria is to highlight values out of disability, these values are products of CORE (Courage, Opportunities, Responsibilities and Empowerment, which are the basics required for achieving excellence in any person with disabilities, CARE Nigeria is at the forefront of the disability advocacy in Nigeria, with her rehabilitation and empowerment programs.

The main goal of the Centre for Ability Rehabilitation and Empowerment is to ensure that persons with disabilities face no barriers in accessing services and facilities anywhere in the country.

CARE has carried out several interventions including provisions of scholarships, humanitarian relief (during COVID 19 lockdown), advocacy on accessible air travel etc. They strongly believe in accessible air travel campaign because key stakeholders like airlines companies, government officials, and agencies have begun to see the need for such campaigns.

The current Project is an initiative of the Center for Ability Rehabilitation and Empowerment (CARE) founded by Dr. Chike Okogwu in line with one of the Centre’s mantra that experiences in Life Should Refine and Not Define One…Rise Above That Challenge’. It is aimed at removing all barriers to accessible air transportation for persons with disabilities in Nigeria. It was borne out of the daily frustrations passengers with disabilities continue to face in airports and local airlines companies in Nigeria. They believe that there must exist modern assistive devices to eliminate any form of accessibility barriers around airports, bus stops, and railway stations.

The project will be led by Dr. Chike Okogwu- a disruptive innovator and first-class media and management development consultant. He is the former Nigerian Coordinator (Abuja) of the CNN Multichoice African Journalist of the Year awards alongside providing both commercial and editorial content for CNN, BBC, and Aljazeera news channels. As a paraplegic with a spinal cord injury sustained in a car accident, he is an advocate of inclusion and accessible social infrastructure. He has over time advocated for accessible air travel for passengers with disabilities. Chike has committed to being a Champion of Change with education from the Academy of Business Management Switzerland (DBA), York St. John University, Yorkshire, UK (MA in Leading Innovation and Change), Triple Alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Kennedy Sch of Govt., Cambridge, USA in Leadership in the 21st Century; Chaos, Conflicts and Courage Program (2010) and Expanding Impact Program (2011), Leadership, Organizing and Action (2012); He works on Leadership Trainings around the world with emphasis on producing change agents in Africa with his faculty members in Harvard KSG, The Thinking Heads Global Group, Australia and The Innovative IdeasDevelopment Services Ltd as CEO. He has held top leadership positions in the Nigerian Presidency and is a top adviser to state governments, blue-chip firms, CSOs and Startups.

CARE Project Description

The Project Accessible Aviation/CARE & Access For All…A Call to Action is an initiative of Center for Ability Rehabilitation and Empowerment (CARE) founded by Dr. Chike Okogwu in line with one of the Centre’s mantra that ‘Experiences in Life Should Refine and Not Define One…Rise Above That Challenge’. It is aimed at removing all barriers to accessible air transportation for persons with disabilities in Nigeria. It was borne out of the daily frustrations passengers with disabilities continue to face in airports and local airlines companies in Nigeria, bearing in mind, most importantly, that we need to have the compassion and caring for helping to protect vulnerable people as Ellen Sauerbrey says and ‘If we truly believe in the value of life, we should care about all of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society’ – Joni Eareckson. Tada).

Nigeria currently has 47 Airports (including airstrips and military airports) but all of them except three, Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) and MM2 Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (International Wing) Abuja. The rest are plagued by

inaccessible infrastructure rendering them literally useless to persons with disabilities.

Project Accessible Aviation, CARE & Access For All…A Call to Action is intended to amongst other things, ensure solutions – that at every airport in Nigeria, there must exist modern assistive devices to eliminate any form of accessibility barriers around the airports and within the aircrafts.

In addition, there must be a ‘CARE and Access For All Counters’ supported by the National Commission of Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to provide services to all PWDs defined as, sick, pregnant women, elderly, albino and any vulnerable person. The desk will register, assist and record all PWD passenger and ensure their best treatment all through the journey. The records received will help the NCPWD in her issuance of Disabilities Certificate program in line with the Nigerian Disabilities Prohibition Act (2019).

Also, all the PWDs assistants at the desks must wear Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) in conformity with COVID-19 Protocols for protection of PWD passenger, airport assistants them, all the other passengers and crew on the transit. Project Accessible Aviation through the Voice I-rant grant will seek to amongst other things;

1. Commit key stakeholders in the Nigerian Aviation sector to implement accessible air transport systems.

2. Train airline operators on the flying rights of persons with disabilities.

3. Procure and deploy assistive devices at airline terminals.

4. Create jobs for the operators of the assistive devices and ancillary services at the airports. We estimate that at-least 1000 new jobs spanning the 46 airports in Nigeria will be created.