By Loveth Asogwa,
The Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Haijah Sadiya Umaru Farouq has approved Federal Government’s Post COVID-19 intervention Fund for over fifty thousand Persons With Disabilities (PWDs.
This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD), Mr. James Lalu during his press briefing in Abuja on Friday.
Mr. Lalu said that it is part of Federal Government’s efforts to cushion the effect of the pandemic on persons with disabilities because the pandemic affected persons with disabilities more.
Mr. Lalu also hinted that the collection of the data of the beneficiaries will commence on Monday and the beneficiaries would be selected from the 36 states and FCT. He also assured that the commission will ensure that the beneficiaries are truly from rural communities. He urged would be beneficiaries who have not opened bank account to do so because it is one the very important information required because the benefits will come as conditional cash transfer.
He pointed out that the fifty thousand is the first batch of beneficiaries as more PWDs would be captured subsequently.
The Executive Secretary also said that the conditional cash transfer is expected to be used as investments by the beneficiaries not for celebration of any kind.
The Executive Secretary urged persons with disabilities to avail themselves the opportunity that these intervention programmes from FG provides.
Mr. Lalu while commending President Buhari for signing disability bill into law in 2019 after neglects from many past presidents and also establishment of the commission, pointed out that the commission is working on access to education for persons with disabilities and using education to deepen the culture of disability inclusion in Nigeria by collaborating with some tertiary institutions to develop disability related courses in the university.
The Executive Secretary emphasized on the importance of employment to PWDs citing Section 28 of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 which talks about 5% employment opportunities of PWDs, he informed that the commission is working assiduously, collaborating with Federal Character Commission, Federal Civil Service Commission, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Secretary to The Government of the Federation and other relevant stakeholders to brainstorm and achieve 5% employment opportunities for PWDs.
He also said that the commission would be collaborating state governments to enhance the capacity of persons with disabilities because there is a lot of PWDs who are well educated and skilled, therefore he hinted that the commission would continue to work hard to create opportunities for these persons with disabilities.
Watch the full press conference:
Some pictures of the Press Conference
