Photo L-R: Dotun Akande, Founder/Director, Patrick Speech and Languages Centre; Dr. Ime Okon, President Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN); Korede Demola-Adeniyi, Executive Director, Commercial and Institutional Banking (Lagos and Southwest), The Alternative Bank (AltBank), and Dr. Anne Adah-Ogoh, Director, Policy and Programmes, Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN), at AltBank’s maiden Stakeholder Roundtable and Policy Dialogue on Autism Awareness held in Lagos… recently.
In a major push to transform autism care and inclusion in Nigeria, key stakeholders at The Alternative Bank’s maiden Autism Stakeholders Roundtable and Policy Dialogue have called for a decisive overhaul of the nation’s autism framework, urging a shift from conventional academic models to vocational training, talent development, and sustainable financing systems.
The high-level engagement, organised in partnership with the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PSHAN) and Sterling One Foundation, marked a significant policy conversation aimed at moving autism advocacy beyond awareness campaigns toward practical strategies that guarantee functional independence, employability, and long-term support for children living with autism.
Speaking at the event themed “It’s How You Show Up,” Founder and Director of Patrick Speech and Languages Centre (PSLC), Mrs. Dotun Akande, criticised Nigeria’s current education system for its excessive focus on rote learning and examination performance, warning that the prevailing one-size-fits-all model fails to equip autistic children—and many neurotypical children—for meaningful participation in the workforce.
According to Akande, the future of autism care in Nigeria must be built around recognising and developing the unique strengths of children on the autism spectrum rather than forcing them into rigid academic pathways.
She stressed that children with autism often possess exceptional capabilities in pattern recognition, creativity, and attention to detail, which can be strategically channelled into sectors such as information technology, agriculture, arts, and data analysis.
“Functional independence, employability, and fulfillment come from identifying and nurturing each child’s unique strengths,” she said, advocating for a mandatory vocational and talent development framework within autism care pathways from primary school onward.
Beyond education reform, financing emerged as a dominant theme at the roundtable, with experts strongly advocating for autism screening, therapy, and intervention services to be incorporated into the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
Stakeholders argued that Nigeria’s current dependence on out-of-pocket payments and charitable support is unsustainable and exclusionary, calling instead for a blended financing model that combines public funding, private capital, and development finance.
President of the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Lagos State Branch, Dr. Ime Okon, emphasised that medical progress alone would not deliver meaningful change without corresponding financial and legislative support.
“Medical expertise must be met with the fiscal infrastructure to create lasting change,” Okon stated, adding that inclusive legislation and scalable funding are critical to ensuring autism interventions are both accessible and sustainable.
On the corporate front, The Alternative Bank reaffirmed its commitment to systemic reform through a three-pillar intervention agenda focused on inclusive education, policy advocacy, and developmental support.
Executive Director, Commercial and Institutional Banking (Lagos and Southwest), Korede Demola-Adeniyi, said reform must begin with redesigning classrooms and educational systems to accommodate neurodiverse learners.
“No child should be locked out of learning simply because our classrooms were not designed with them in mind,” she declared.
Demola-Adeniyi further announced the bank’s partnership with Eliakim Global Resources to launch a structured capacity-building programme on Receptive Language Disorder, targeting early developmental markers often overlooked in children.
The initiative, she explained, will provide intensive hands-on training for educators and caregivers, reflecting the bank’s strategy of moving beyond rhetoric into measurable intervention.
The roundtable convened a broad coalition of policymakers, medical practitioners, educators, nonprofit leaders, and lawmakers, including representatives from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Lagos State House of Assembly, Autism Awareness Foundation, ACT Foundation, and special needs advocacy groups.
By championing early screening, inclusive education, vocational empowerment, and innovative financing, stakeholders say Nigeria now has an opportunity to build a more responsive autism ecosystem—one that empowers children not merely to survive, but to thrive productively in society.
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