|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has convened a stakeholders’ validation meeting to review preliminary findings from its assessment of 150 government and public educational websites, aimed at identifying digital barriers faced by persons with disabilities (PWDs).
The assessment examined how independently persons with disabilities can access information and services through the websites of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), universities, polytechnics and other public educational institutions. Each assessed website received an accessibility score out of 100, alongside a report highlighting identified barriers and recommended improvements.
The validation meeting brought together representatives of government ICT and regulatory agencies, civil society organisations, organisations of persons with disabilities among others. Participants reviewed the methodology, examined sample website assessments and provided recommendations to strengthen the findings before publication.
The assessment involved compiling and cleaning website addresses, checking whether websites were accessible, conducting desktop and mobile audits, verifying automated findings and preparing agency-specific reports.
Stakeholders raised concerns about focusing primarily on homepages, noting that critical public services are often accessed through internal pages and dedicated portals. They stressed that persons with disabilities must be meaningfully involved throughout the assessment process, reflecting the principle of “nothing about us without us.”
Other recommendations included consulting assessed institutions before publishing findings, recognising improvements made to websites since the audit, and establishing clear mechanisms for engaging MDAs on identified accessibility gaps.
In response, CITAD clarified that the assessment specifically examines accessibility for persons with disabilities, complementing rather than duplicating broader government website rankings. The team explained that its criteria draw on literature, open-source accessibility tools and the experiences of persons with disabilities. It also highlighted CITAD’s digital-skills laboratory, which has trained approximately 2,000 persons with disabilities.
The project team acknowledged the observations and committed to strengthening the methodology, incorporating recognised accessibility standards, engaging additional ICT stakeholders and consulting assessed institutions before releasing the final report.
The meeting concluded with a shared commitment to improving digital inclusion and ensuring that government websites and portals are accessible to all citizens. CITAD expressed appreciation to participants and encouraged continued collaboration to make Nigeria’s digital public services more inclusive and independently usable by persons with disabilities.
