The Executive Secretary, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, Mr. James David Lalu has applauded the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Mejabi Yemi-Esan CFR for her kind efforts in including the 5% employment opportunities (as stipulated in the discrimination Act, 2018) in the newly improved Public Service Rules The Executive Secretary made the pronouncements in Lagos during a forum organized by Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and other Stakeholders on issues of assistive devices as a major component of disability inclusion for independent living, today 17th August, 2023.
In his speech, Lalu opined that the limited availability of assistive technology has undermined the efforts of the federal government in the full inclusions of Persons with Disabilities into the well intended programs mapped out by NCPWD.
“I want to implore everyone to be patient with the new Administration led by his Excellency, Bola Amed Tinubu GCFR, whom we rely upon to utilize the high intellectuals available in Nigeria and Disability Community to provide the right working tools for PWDs in order to increase productivity” He said.
The ES further in his address, reiterated the Commission’s efforts towards donating assistive devices and some other relief materials to Persons with Disabilities irrespective of paucity of funds.
“We are making efforts towards mapping out the right policies that will take care of some of these problems but, the government cannot do these things alone; partnerships with relevant organizations and also goodwill of the Multinationals and Donors organizations is very critical” He said.
Conversely, Lalu commended the Head of Civil Service of the Federation Folashade Mejabi Yemi-Esan for including the 5 percent employment opportunities as slated by the Disability Act of 2018 in the recently amended PSR. He described Yemi-Esan as a master Civil Servant who yet has so much to contribute to the National discourse.
He further thanked CHAI for taking the lead in bringing these National issues to the front burner and assured them that the Commission will do everything possible to ensure that a review of the Disability Law will include the role of assistive technology in promoting disability rights.
“We will rely on the goodwill of the newly constituted standing Committee on Disability to push for legislative interventions in order to sustain the campaign for disability inclusion” he reaffirmed.
Earlier in his speech, the GM Lagos State Disability Agency, Mr. Dare Dairo expressed his gratitude to the ES for honouring the event at a short notice and stated that in order to achieve results, all hands must be on deck and every possible avenue that might yield positively must be explored.
