The Centre for Information Technology and Development has urged government institutions to ensure that their websites and online portals are accessible to persons with disabilities.
CITAD made the call on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ validation meeting on the assessment of the accessibility of government websites and portals for persons with disabilities, held at its office in Kano.
The meeting, supported by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), was organised under CITAD’s Campaign for Improved Accessibility of Government Websites and Portals for Persons with Disabilities project, with support from APC.
Representing the Executive Director, Maurice Gupar, said the increasing shift of government services to digital platforms made accessibility essential.
“As government services increasingly move online, accessibility must be treated as a fundamental requirement, not an afterthought.
“Government websites and portals are public platforms, and everyone, including persons with disabilities, should be able to access information and services through them without unnecessary barriers.
“We are calling on government institutions to take accessibility seriously, adopt recognised standards and establish mechanisms for continuous monitoring and improvement,” he said.
The Project Officer of CIAGOP, Hamza Aminu Fagge, said the validation meeting provided stakeholders with an opportunity to review CITAD’s findings and recommend measures to address identified accessibility gaps.
Fagge said the assessment covered 151 government websites and portals, with emphasis on barriers faced by persons with different disabilities, including users of assistive technologies.
According to him, the assessment found several accessibility challenges, including poor screen-reader navigation, inadequate alternative text for images, poor colour contrast, inaccessible online forms and multimedia content without captions or descriptions.
He said, “A website may look attractive and perform well under conventional website rankings, but that does not necessarily mean it is accessible to persons with disabilities.”
Stakeholders said the identified barriers could prevent persons with disabilities from accessing essential government information and services in areas including education, employment, healthcare and social protection.
They called on government institutions to adopt recognised accessibility standards, particularly the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, while establishing clear responsibilities and mechanisms for monitoring compliance.
A representative of the Kano State Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Abdullahi Maitama, said the ministry was working to standardise websites and portals operated by Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state.
Maitama said the ministry would consider CITAD’s findings and recommendations for further action.
Also speaking, a representative of the National Association of the Blind, Ibrahim Umar Abdulkarim, urged website developers to involve persons with disabilities from the design stage.
He said the participation of actual users of assistive technologies would help developers identify barriers that might otherwise be overlooked.
Nusaiba Hassan of the Foundation for Empowering PWDs through Media Rehabilitation, Abuja, called for more digital skills training for persons with disabilities, particularly on assistive technologies and access to online government services.
She also urged tertiary institutions to incorporate digital accessibility into the curricula of computer science, software development, computer engineering and other ICT-related courses.
Hassan said the move would prepare future developers to consider accessibility as an essential part of digital development.
Participants also discussed the use of artificial intelligence in website accessibility assessments, stressing the need for human verification of automated findings.
CITAD explained that AI was used as part of the assessment process, but the findings were subjected to human review and verification.
Dr Nasiru Yakubu of Bayero University, Kano, said inaccessible digital platforms could deepen the exclusion of persons with disabilities as more government services moved online.
Representatives of organisations of persons with disabilities commended CITAD for conducting the assessment and subjecting its findings to stakeholder review.
CITAD said it would develop a policy brief based on the assessment and recommendations from the validation meetings and share the findings with relevant stakeholders to support advocacy and engagement with government institutions.
The meeting ended with a call for government institutions, technology experts, organisations of persons with disabilities, academia and civil society organisations to work together to make Nigeria’s digital transformation inclusive.