TQM Report,
Federal House of Representatives’ Committee on Disability were pleased with the achievement of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) for less than two years of its establishment.
The commendation came during the visitation of the Committee to the office of the Commission for an oversight function on Wednesday in Abuja.
Hon. Princess Miriam Onuoha, Chairman of the Committee alongside other Committee members, after the presentation of the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr. James David Lalu, lauded the Commission for their achievement so far and pledged to support the Commission in any possible way to achieve more.
They thanked the Executive Secretary of the Commission, for leading his team well to achieve so much.
The Chairman of the Committee eulogized the ES NCPWD for his passion towards Disability issues.
Hon. Victor Mela Danzaria from Gombe State was first to acknowledge what the Commission is doing for doing for over 31 million Nigerians with disabilities.
“I think we should be discussing on how to help and improve the work of this Commission. I feel this Commission is doing a great job. However, we want to see the great job reflect in our constituencies, because, if people in our constituencies see the good work that the Commission is doing and the opportunity they have, they will know that we care for them,” he said.
Hon. Dachung Musa Bagos, a rep member from Plateau State said that Mr. Lalu exhibited what is known for a true plateau son. He praised him for making the state proud with what he has done with his team. He urged the Commission to ensure that Persons with disabilities from his constituency Jos South/East benefit from the programmes of the Commission.
Mr Lalu earlier in his opening remark commended the Committee for their unwavering support for the Commission and again the passion the Committee members have shown towards Disability issues.
In his earlier report presentation, he read out some achievements of Commission to the Committee members which includes enrolling PWDs in the N-Power Programme and Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), awareness creation among PWDs on COVID-19 vaccination which the number of PWDs vaccinated, the development of curriculum for Disability studies, development of accessibility minimum standard to be incorporated into the National Building Code, data capturing of PWDs to be included in the COVID-19 intervention fund, secured an office space and modified it to have all accessibility features.
He also said that going forward if we’ll funded, the Commission would create offices in the six geo-political zones to get the Commission closer to the PWDs, and in education, the Commission would love to offer scholarship and help in modifying some school with the view of making education attractive for PWDs.
Mr. Lalu also said that NCPWD is collaborating with the Nigeria Police to ensure the enforcement of Disability law.
“The Inspector General has promised that soon, in police formations across the country, there would be Disability desk officers and they will have sign language interpreters to enhance communication of the Deaf in police formations.
In response to the concern, one of the members made about paralympians, Mr. Lalu said that the Commission will host paralympians who made the country proud during the recent Paralympics in Japan and he regreted the challenges being faced by PWDs in the Ministry of Sports and suggested that if para sports would be domiciled in the Commission, PWDs into sports would be properly taken care.
Mr. Lalu reiterated that 60 percent of the workforce of the Commission would be PWDs.
‘It is our commission, we will be the majority of staff”
He informed that on the 2021 budget, the Commission has achieved about 71.67 percent.
Hon. Onuoha reacting to Mr. Lalu’s presentation asked him to furnish the Committee with the full activities of the Commission in Data Capturing, NSIP, including the names, States and Local Government of beneficiaries of the NSIP which Lalu confidently affirmed he would.
TQM learnt that most of the directors were drafted from other ministers and agencies, they maybe replaced when the Commission will conduct recruitment of staff.
