The Director of Ike Foundation Autism (IFA), a non-governmental organization (NGO), Mohie Francis Oko, has raised the alarm over the prevalence of Autism in Nigeria.
Oko noted this in Abuja when Ike’s Foundation in partnership with Ferdinand Effah Music Heritage Foundation (FEMHF) and KADA Foundation embarked on a road work exercise to raise awareness on Autism to commemorate the World Autism Day.
According to him, there is need to carry everyone along, adding that there is no commensurate manpower to cater for these needs.
He explained that they have to start an awareness and that’s why they are embarked on the walk.
April 5th, a day set aside by the United Nations in 2007 to advocate for and create awareness about autism but its first engagement took place in 2008 basically to bring voice together to the course and create awareness on autism related matters.
The road work exercise began at the Unity Fountain in the central area of Abuja terminated at the Federal Secretariat
He explained that the foundation was established in 2008 to give care to those affected by the condition known as autism.
He said there are four operational pillars they use as tools for engagement which are under the acronym HEAL with H – standing for Health which focuses on medical referral, assessment and diagnosis “and we do this in partnership with the ministry of Health at the National hospital,” he said.
“The E stands for education -At Ike Foundation , we try to catch them young and provide them with the needed basic language, learning and other functional skills while A stands for awareness because in this part of the world, there is very little understanding of the condition so, there has been a lot of misconception and discrimination attached to the condition leading to stigmatization and rejection of those suffering from the condition; they are rejected at school and in the society, there is no provision for them.
“So we try to create a platform by which we can advocate for their needs and also engage in awareness programs, enlightening the general public so that those with condition won’t be stigmatized as witches or wizard as is very common in our society.
“Most of the participants on this road work are parents of children with special needs such as autism and this is to equip their minds and also try to communicate what their needs are so that they can get the support,” he stated.
He said there is the need to keep leveraging on the platform of social media and mainstream media so that everyone can have adequate access to information about the condition so that they will know what to do when the condition arises.
“There is also the issue of language barrier because most dwellers of rural communities can not read, so as a foundation, whenever we are going out to carry out the capacity building, we try to carry every stakeholders along, for example, come 27th of this month, we are carrying a capacity building program in the whole of Bwari area council and we have gotten somebody who would interpret in the local language of the community and even those that will interpret in sign language so that those that are deaf can be reached with information about the condition.”
He explained that Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain.
He said People with ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction, and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests. “People with ASD may also have different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention”.
He said there are however, argument about environmental toxins, vaccine mis-administration and a host of other speculative causes.
Mr Francis said that the Ike’s Foundation is in partnership with others in Nigeria and even outside of the country such as partnership in the USA, Eswatini, Rwanda and here in Nigeria, where we are in partnership with a lot of other NGOs.
Also, the President and founder, Ferdinand Effah Music Heritage Foundation (FEMHF), Mr Stanley Effah described the specific area of focus of the organization as using music for redressing autism spectrum through music therapy .
Also, founder of Akkad Foundation, Pamel Aduda, said autism does not make one unable to do things, it is just important that we integrate people with the condition into the everyday life.
