Disability in Nigeria
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Estimates vary for the number of people with disabilities in Nigeria, ranging from under 3 million people to over 25 million. Nigerian law prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Some discrimination occurs due to prevalent superstitions.[1][2]
The World report on disability, published in 2011, said about 25 million Nigerians had at least one disability, while 3.6 million of these had very significant difficulties in functioning.[3] The 2006 Nigerian census reported 3,253,169 people with disabilities, or 2.32% of the total population of 140,431,790 in that year.[4] However, the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, a Nigerian NGO, claims the census did not capture the full extent of disability in Nigeria, and has called on Nigeria's National Population Commission to cooperate with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development for the 2016 census in order to measure disability more accurately.[5] As at 2020, there are reportedly over 27 million Nigerians living with some form of disability.
Types
The five most common types of disabilities in Nigeria are, in descending order, visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical impairment, intellectual impairment, and communication impairment.[4]
