The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Needs and Equal Opportunities, Mohammed Abba Isa, and other stakeholders have called for improved prevention measures, better rehabilitation services and stronger support for persons with spinal cord injuries in Nigeria.
The call was made in Abuja at the 2026 commemoration of the International Day for Spinal Cord Injury, organised by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Needs and Equal Opportunities.
The commemoration, themed “From Awareness to Action: Ten Years Advancing SCI Prevention,” with the message “Inform, Engage, Empower,” focused on the need to move beyond awareness to practical measures that can prevent spinal cord injuries and improve access to rehabilitation.
Abba Isa said awareness must translate into practical action, particularly in prevention, rehabilitation and economic inclusion.
“Awareness alone cannot prevent injuries, make our roads safer, guarantee access to rehabilitation or create employment opportunities for persons living with spinal cord injuries,” he said.
He said spinal cord injuries often result from road traffic accidents, falls, workplace incidents, violence and other preventable causes, stressing that prevention should be treated as a public health, safety and disability inclusion priority.
According to him, the focus must be on “translating knowledge into practical interventions and measurable outcomes.”
Abba Isa called for safer roads, stronger workplace safety standards, effective emergency response and quality rehabilitation services.
He also stressed the importance of accessibility, describing it as “a fundamental right” rather than an optional provision.
He called for a “whole-of-society approach” involving families, employers, healthcare institutions, road users, communities, government and civil society in addressing the challenges associated with spinal cord injuries.
He said the response should ultimately “move from pity to rights, charity to empowerment, awareness to action.”
Representing the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, the Director of Special Needs in the ministry, Sunday Hezekiah, said persons with spinal cord injuries needed to be deliberately included in government programmes at the federal, state and local levels.
“The spinal cord injury cluster of persons with disabilities, in fact, there’s not much advocacy in that area. So there’s need for us to join hands together, both at the federal, state and local community level, to make sure that in anything we do, they are being carried along,” he said.
Hezekiah also raised concerns about the condition of rehabilitation centres previously managed by the Federal Government.
According to him, there were about six federal rehabilitation centres when rehabilitation services were under the former Ministry of Women Affairs, but the facilities were handed over to state governments about nine or 10 years ago.
He said some of the centres had since been converted to other uses, while others had been abandoned.
“Some of these rehabilitation centres are being used for other purposes,” he said, calling for resources to revive the facilities and urging all states and the Federal Capital Territory to establish functional rehabilitation centres.
The need for improved services is also reflected in available data.
The World Health Organisation estimates that 15.4 million people were living with spinal cord injury globally in 2021, with falls, road traffic injuries and violence among the major causes.
In Nigeria, a study conducted at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, recorded 132 spinal cord injury cases among 850 admissions over four years, with about 65 per cent resulting from trauma.
Another Nigerian study of traumatic spinal cord injuries found that motor vehicle crashes accounted for 62.6 per cent of cases, while falls accounted for 22.2 per cent.
The figures highlight the importance of preventing injuries while ensuring that people who sustain them have access to appropriate rehabilitation and long-term support.
The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Registration Board of Nigeria, Prof. Rufai Yusuf Ahmad, stressed the need to strengthen rehabilitation services and ensure access to appropriate professional care.
Stakeholders also linked spinal cord injury prevention to transportation and road safety.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Transportation and Mobility, Prince Adetokunbo Ademola Ade-John, emphasised the need for safer transportation systems and stronger measures to reduce road crashes and their consequences.
For the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Nigeria, FCT Chapter, the response must also address accessibility, rehabilitation, assistive devices and the inclusion of persons with spinal cord injuries in decisions affecting them.
The Chairperson of the association, Dr Chioma Maureen Egede, called for sustained attention to the needs of the spinal cord injury community and stronger implementation of policies aimed at protecting the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.
Stakeholders also advocated adequate and disability-inclusive budgetary allocations, noting that rehabilitation services require sustained government investment.
They called for existing rehabilitation facilities to be revived, more specialised centres established and spinal cord injury given greater attention in health, transport, social protection and disability inclusion policies.
The stakeholders said the commemoration should mark a shift from awareness to measurable action, particularly in prevention, rehabilitation, accessibility and inclusion.