Benin’s Director of Social Inclusion and Solidarity, Boubacal Yero Bani Samou, has expressed gratitude to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for its efforts in promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities, particularly children. On March 25, 2025, during an advocacy workshop in Cotonou, Benin, he praised ECOWAS’s commitment to this cause.
“Whatever efforts are made to meet the challenge of training, education and socialization of children with disabilities, in the absence of technical mobility aids to facilitate their social integration, it is quite difficult to expect that they will be able to participate fully in social and economic life as we all wish to do at the national and regional levels,” said Boubacal Yero Bani Samou.
UNICEF reports that approximately 15% of children aged 0-17 years have a disability in West and Central Africa. Nassirou Domingo, president of the Federation of Associations of Disabled People of Benin, emphasized that children with disabilities deserve equal opportunities. He noted that physical, social, and institutional barriers hinder their potential.
“These devices allow children with disabilities to actively participate in school, social and cultural life, to forge links with their peers and to acquire skills for good socialization,” Mr. Domingo stated.
Dr. Alves D’almada Jorge Fernando from ECOWAS highlighted the organization’s dedication to addressing issues related to persons with disabilities. He mentioned the adoption of the ECOWAS Action Plan for Social Inclusion.
“We are currently contributing to the construction of a more social ECOWAS for the peoples,” declared Dr. Alves D’almada Jorge Fernando.
The program aims to provide assistive devices for disabled children in Benin. Sister Florence Agbani and Ms. Pélagie Boko-Collins expressed support for ECOWAS’s initiative.
Benin is the third ECOWAS member state benefiting from this program after Nigeria and Togo. Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau are next on the list. The program’s second phase costs $300,000 and aims at reducing vulnerability among disabled children by providing functional devices.
On the eve of this workshop, Minister Véronique Tognifodé and Amadou Diongue were briefed on this program by an ECOWAS delegation including Dr. Alves D’almada Jorge Fernando along with other officials such as Ms. Abimbola Oyelohunnu and Liberor Doscof Aho.
