KFC Discriminates Against Adebola Daniel: Here’s What The Laws Says About Discriminating People With Disabilities
Despite their daily struggles navigating an inaccessible environment, 29 million Nigerians with disabilities face a far greater challenge: abuse, reproach, and discrimination.
Adebola Daniel, son of former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel, faced an instance of discrimination on Tuesday, March 26, 2023. He recounted how Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), an international fast-food chain at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, refused him entry when he tried to use their facilities.
“No wheelchairs allowed,” the manager on duty shouted at Daniel and his companions, including his wife, as they were about to take a seat.
“To be disabled in Nigeria is to be undesirable, unwelcome and unaccepted. As I’ve said before, it’s a lonely, scary and isolated place,” Daniel said in a series of emotional tweets that has sparked outrage among Nigerians. “Never has this been more true than it has ever been today where I faced the worst sort of public humiliation that I have ever experienced. To think that this happened at an international brand, @kfcnigeria, at an international airport, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, is unthinkable.”
In response, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), in a statement signed by its Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Obiageli Orah, said it has closed the KFC facility at the Murtala Muhammed Airport with effect from today, March 28, 2024. While FAAN is demanding KFC management to “tender an unreserved apology, in writing, to” Adebola Daniel, there are penalties for discriminating against people with disabilities in Nigeria.
In Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, a state law prohibits depriving physically challenged individuals access to any place.
Section 55 of General Provisions on Discrimination states:
“A person shall not deprive another person of access to any place, vehicle, or facility that members of the public are entitled to enter or use on the basis of the disability of the person.”
Similarly, at the national level, a law, the Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition), 2018, signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari, gives people with disabilities “the right to access the physical environment and buildings on an equal basis with others.”
According to Nigeria’s national law, there are penalties for individuals or corporate organisations that discriminate against people with disabilities.
Section 1 states that a person with a disability shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of his disability by any person or institution in any manner or circumstance of discrimination, and penalty.
The punishment for contravening the above section is a fine of N1,000,000 for a corporate organisation and N100,000 or six months’ imprisonment or both for an individual.
Although the law also provides that “public buildings shall be constructed with the necessary accessibility aids that shall make them accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities,” many structures in Nigeria are not constructed with the physically challenged in mind.
Despite these laws, people with one form of disability or another in Nigeria are left to deal with discrimination, belittling, and lack of acceptance.
According to a report by the World Bank group, “Persons with disabilities in Nigeria face stigma and discrimination in the form of negative attitudes among family and community members, name-calling, and wrong beliefs about the causes of disabilities, which result in low self-esteem, depression, and isolation.”
“Being disabled often rolls over my spirit, leaving behind a trail of shattered dignity and forgotten humanity. Nowhere more so than in Nigeria,” Daniel said.
