By BONIFACE AKARAH

The hearing of a ₦66 trillion disability rights class-action lawsuit seeking judicial recognition of trauma-based psychiatric and psychosocial impairments as disabilities has been adjourned to September 9, 2026, at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The suit, filed under No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1824/2026, was adjourned on Monday by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik. The applicants are seeking structural and punitive damages which they say represent decades of systemic neglect and exclusion of persons with disabilities since Nigeria's independence in 1960.

But the case goes beyond the ₦66 trillion claim. The applicants want the court to formally recognise long-term psychiatric and psychosocial conditions, including trauma-related impairments, as disabilities under Nigeria's Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

They cited clinical studies involving Almajiri children, street-exposed youths and traditional Tsangaya pupils as evidence of significant psychiatric and trauma-related conditions which, they argue, have not received adequate disability-specific protection.

The applicants are also asking the court to halt a proposed national convention and election of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), scheduled for October 18–21, 2026, in Kaduna.

They contend that the proposed election is being organised under a 2011/2014 JONAPWD Constitution which, according to their filing, was declared legally ineffective by the High Court of Cross River State in a 2023 judgment. They maintain that the 2008 constitution registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission remains the valid governing document.

The applicants are asking the Federal High Court for an emergency order stopping the planned election pending determination of the issues before it.

Among the other reliefs sought are a forensic audit of public and international funds allocated to disability affairs, restructuring of disability institutions and the establishment of adequately funded state and local disability implementation structures across Nigeria's 36 states and 774 local government areas.

Speaking on the case, Lady Omotunde Ellen Thompson, Life-Chairperson of the JONAPWD-National Board of Trustees, said the applicants had spent years building the evidence they are now presenting before the court.

“We have been patient for twenty-seven years. We built the record and the clinical studies, the court judgment, the treaty text, and we are asking this Court to apply Nigeria's own laws to populations the law was always written to protect.”

Also speaking, Chief Eric Ndubueze Ufom, President/CEO of Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, said the case was rooted in the disability definition adopted under the UN convention.

“The definition of disability we fought for was deliberately written to include exactly this kind of long-term psychiatric harm,” Ufom said, adding that the case was asking Nigeria to fulfil its treaty obligations.

The applicants argue that excluding people suffering long-term trauma from disability-specific protections has implications beyond welfare, including national development and security.

They contend that vulnerable populations such as psychologically traumatised Almajiri children, internally displaced persons and combat veterans require appropriate medical protection, rehabilitation and representation.

They also insist that disability organisations must be directly involved in the design and implementation of government programmes affecting persons with disabilities, invoking the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us” under the UN Convention.

The applicants stress that the ₦66 trillion is a claim before the court and has not been awarded. They also acknowledge that the allegations concerning JONAPWD governance and other institutional matters remain subject to judicial determination.

The matter will come up again on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. at Federal Court House 7, Abuja.