Kingsley Unah
The Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu has drawn the attention of National Assembly, State Governments and State Houses of Assembly to the establishment, Domestication and full Implementation of Disability law across the country.
The Minister made this call Wednesday when she declared open the the 2023 International Day of Persons with Disabilities at the Shehu Yaradua Centre, Abuja.
She also called for significant improvement on the budget for the commission for disabled persons in Nigeria, under the Renewed Hope Agenda, because there is no segregation.
According to Dr Betta, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has already directed that 10% of all the intervention Programmes of the Ministry be alloted to PWDs, pointing out that the President runs an inclusive Government.
“Hence he began by signing the African Charter for Persons with Disability, which ensures that your rights have been protected. We are celebrating today five years of having a law in Nigeria that protects you”.
“I want to use this medium to call on our state governments to establish, and for those who have established already, to domesticate persons with disability law and Commissions across the country.
“We have the president’s backing, we must protect persons with disabilities, so we are calling strongly for the creation of all the accessibility mediums for persons with disability in all Public and Private buildings in the country said Dr Edu.
On the need to improve the budget of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, the Minister said: “The budget allocation to the Disability Commission needs significant improvement from the 2024 budget moving forward.
“On behalf of 35.5 million Nigeria who fall within the PWDs category, we are pleading with the very dynamic and uncommon leadership we have at the National Assembly to please improve on the budget for the Commission for Disabled Persons in Nigeria. We plead with NASS members to channel some of their constituency projects to persons with Disability”.
Dr Edu, at the event, made a symbolic presentation and distribution of thousands of assistive devices to people with disabilities which will be shared across the country, to states and LGAs assuring them of President Tinubu’s solidarity.
Some of the devices include Orbit readers, collapsible guide claim, iPhone Pro Max with optical characters, typewriters jaw screen readers, laptops with jaws, the talking watch, digital magnifiers, low vision lamps, the charisma share water, the beauty blocks for CWA, the talking toys for CWA, the doorbell for the deaf, the speech to text for the deaf, the alerting devices, the digital hearing aids, the HP laptops, sewing machines, hairdryers, air cleaners, motorised wheelchairs of different types clutches among others.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, James Lalu commended President Tinubu for giving them Dr Edu as Minister supervising the commission.
Lalu who described the Minister as the ambassador of the disability community, lauded her for providing innovative and dynamic leadership in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.