institutional frameworks as well as adequate resources to ensure this. The Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is charged with handling disability issues, but is viewed as largely ineffective and unable to address the concerns and rights of PWDs. In some states, commissioners are appointed to handle disability issues, but this occurs on a discretionary basis rather than as a legal obligation to protect a vulnerable population group. 400. There is currently no law or policy that specifically addresses the rights of PWDs. Nigeria has signed, but has yet to ratify, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In the past, the federal military government passed the Nigerians with Disability Decree of 1993, which comprehensively covered the rights of PWDs in order to ensure their full integration into the mainstream of society. PWDs were to be fully integrated into the national economy and have equal rights and opportunities before the law, with a multidisciplinary National Commission for People with Disability being set up to monitor the implementation of this law. 401. Currently, the absence of a law or policy on PWDs has had an impact on their enjoyment of rights. The inclusion and integration of PWDs into the mainstream of Nigerian life is underdeveloped. PWDs have not been involved in political processes or institutions, and their numbers remain low in the mainstream public institutions, such as the public service, the parastatals, the executive and the judiciary. Few legislatures include PWDs; hence their underrepresentation in important policy-making and resource allocation processes. Stakeholders attributed this largely to the lack of adequate education or employment opportunities faced by most PWDs by virtue of the structural disadvantages they face. Electoral processes such as civic education and voting often do not adapt to the needs of PWDs and hence are made inaccessible to PWDs, thus disenfranchising them. Socioeconomic and cultural rights 134 402. PWDs are not included in the mainstream public institutions, and there is a lack of enabling policies and laws to address this. In the education sector, even with the advent of universal basic education (UBE), children with special needs education have not been appropriately integrated into the mainstream educational system because of the inadequate provision of teaching aids, materials and facilities, as well as teachers versed in special needs education methodologies and skills. Schools for PWDs are scattered throughout various states, with many of them being funded by charitable organisations. 403. However, in some states (like Ekiti), a bill for a charter on a welfare package for PWDs is in the offing, with proposals for full sponsorship of PWDs so that they can get free education at all levels. A number of universities have also adopted administrative decisions to reserve certain quotas for learners with special needs. Some universities have taken the initiative of building structures that are physically accessible by learners with disabilities. 404. Few PWDs are employed in the formal sector. Even those involved in the informal sector in urban areas are routinely removed from the streets as