Kano state Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje. Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State says a commission has been established to ensure the implementation of the Disability Bill recently assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ganduje said this in Abuja at the 2019 Human Rights summit themed “Adopting Human Rights-Based Approach in the Public Sector Sustainable Development Agenda”.

Dailytrust reported that the governor received a human rights award for his commitment to the cause of education, health, justice and other issues relating to the right to life from the National Human Rights Commission.

The governor said with the new policy of his government, girls of school age must complete secondary education before getting married to their suitors. He said the threat associated with the Almajiri system of education was being addressed through its integration with western education in Kano State.

“We are killing so many birds with one stone. First of all, we are taking care of all the out-of-school children to make sure they are being given the opportunity for education.

“The much talked about almajiri system is now being integrated with modern system of education. The girl-child education, you know the problems of marrying underage girls, but from our policy now, all our girls have to at least finish secondary education before they are married,” he also said.

The governor, who said 3000 prisoners had been granted amnesty to decongest prisons, added that a committee was set up to ensure speedy dispensation of justice following the discovery that many people spent years in prisons without trial due to unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks.

Ganduje, who said the government had provided free education for the nine abducted Kano children up to university level, added that two more children had been recovered, making 11.

He said the commission of inquiry constituted on the matter was not only to ensure the recovery of the children and punish the culprits but also to create awareness for parents to take care of their children so that enabling environment was not provided for the kidnappers.

“The highly celebrated Kano nine children that were kidnapped and taken to the other part of this country being converted, changed their names, religion, we instituted a judicious commission of inquiry to find out circumstances under which they were kidnapped, return them to their parents and assist in their socialization,” he added.

The Executive Secretary,  National Human Rights Commission, Mr Tony Ojukwu,  said the summit was organized to sensitise Nigerians on the significance of protecting human rights.

by Chris Agbo

The Executive Director, Disability Rights Advocacy Centre (DRAC) Dr. Irene Patrick-Ogbogu speaking as one of the panelists at EU and RoLAC organized programme as a part of the campaign in commemoration of 16 days of activism against gender based violence to mark the 2019 international Human Rights Day, said that human rights are for everyone regardless of your economic status or disability status. Your rights should be enforced like every other person, unfortunately disability rights in Nigeria is still unattainable. Yes, there is a disability act now but it took almost 30 years of struggle before it came into being, it is surprising why it has to take such long time because disability should be everybody’s business and it can happen to anybody at any time.  Many of the foremost disability advocates were not born with disability, it happened along the line. Do we have to wait for something terrible to happen before we should take disability rights seriously?

The reason is that the society generally continue to view persons with disabilities as people who have less value, second class citizens, people who should not have right and this kind of mindset continue to persist, it cut across every sector of the society. The mindset stems from our religious beliefs, traditional beliefs for instance this belief that disability is a curse or punishment, persons with disabilities should be kept separate and treated separately. It affect the way persons with disabilities are able to access services, for instance if a woman with physical disability who have been raped, goes to report and there are stairs everywhere and she was to be carried by men, touching her inappropriately in her vital areas somebody who have just been raped, imagine also, a deaf girl who have been raped and she has gone to report but there is no sign language interpreter to help explain what happened to her. In most cases, the service providers are not well trained as such they are not sensitive, they will be making statement like “You should even be happy that a man is interested in you”.

There were practical examples of where some women with disabilities have been raped and they go to police. The police will be asking question like “Na your Boyfriend, Na your Husband? When you answer, they will make statement such as “Me wey dey here, I never see one wey come marry me, you wey get, wan put am for trouble because he raped you”.  Persons with disabilities are still suffering despite the enactment of disability act. Since January, 23^rd 2019 that the act came into being, there have been no forward movement on the implementation. The act stipulates that a commission will be established to oversee the implementation of the law but up till now, there is absolutely nothing no ground. Persons with disabilities have been advocating, making their voices heard but nothing much seems to be happening because disability issues are not fashionable, people are not interested. At this point, she challenged the celebrities present at the event because they have never spoken to disability rights, they seem not interested, a right doesn’t have to be fashionable before one can add his/ her voice to it.

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There are so many rights been violated around disability, disability rights are being violated daily, persons with disabilities cannot have access to public building, access to information, access to communication, jingles and information are put out, and nobody thinks or care on how the deaf and blind person can access the information, there are barriers everywhere, as a person with physical disability, you go to the airport, you can’t access the aircraft because of lack of airlift to take you in. when you ask question, they will ask how many persons with disabilities are flying, so because many persons with disabilities are not flying, you should not make provision for those who are flying.

She concluded by saying that all rights are human rights and it belongs to everybody, it is inappropriate to select the rights you will fight for. If you wish to be a human rights activist, you should have interest in all rights be it disability rights, women rights, child rights, all rights are crosscutting, all these groups are being discriminated upon and they are all suffering similar fate. It is improper to choose a particular right and make it all serious issue and leave out other rights.

Prof. Joy Ezeilo, the moderator of the panel in her response to Dr. Irene assertion, narrated how she helped to build a ramp in an entrance of a class room in the University of Nigeria after witnessing a young lady on wheelchair being carried by men into the class. A practice that has been taking place daily because she intervened.

The event which took place in EU office, Abuja brought together human rights activists, persons with disabilities who are rights advocates, celebrities and diplomats.  

SOME PICTURES OF THE EVENT:

by Chris Agbo

Lionheart Ability Leaders International Foundation in conjunction with Usher Syndrome Coalition USA marked International Usher Syndrome Awareness Day 2019 with a rally themed Operation Save Africa’s Deaf-Blind Population: Lets give Individuals with Deaf-Blindness A Future. The awareness rally was carried out by members of this foundation on Thursday 12^th December, 2019 in Abuja. The FCT Chapter of the foundation led by Titilayo Beyioku-Alase a renowned sign language interpreter with other members such as Aderayo, Hannah, Agbo Chris of The Qualitative Magazine among others walked from Unity fountain Abuja to Head of Service sharing fliers to motorists and pedestrians.

The essence of the awareness walk was to inform the public about usher syndrome which is relatively a rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in any one of at least 10 genes resulting in a combination of hearing loss and visual loss and is the leading cause of combined deafness and blindness(deaf-blindness) in individuals worldwide. Most affected individuals end up with total blindness alongside varying degrees of hearing loss or total deafness.

Usher Syndrome affects a large number of people in Africa due to ignorance and lack of genetic testing and counselling facilities. The condition currently has no known cure and affects three major senses in a person’s body- hearing, vision and balance which can diversely affect health, academic, and general well being of the affected individuals as well as the development of various skills.

Individual who suffer this face with isolation, rejection, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, illiteracy, loss of independence, ill health, suicidal tendencies, and a relatively high mortality rate because of the ignorance of their family, teachers, doctors, and the public. This make it difficult for them to contribute to the growth of the society.

However, persons with deaf-blindness can learn and be successful. Some of them includes Professor Helen Keller, Dr. B.R Smith, & Mr. Solomon among others.

In 2015, the Usher Syndrome Coalition declared every third Saturday in September as the global Usher Syndrome Awareness Day. This year’s edition was on 21^st September, 2019 but due to lack of sponsors, LALIF FCT through self-sponsored put together awareness walk in December.

Learn all about Usher Syndrome/Deaf-Blindness and what can be done to help.

MORE PICTURES:

by Chris Agbo

On 9^th December, 2019 in Abuja, VOICE OF DISABILITY INITIATIVE(VDI) marked her 4-year anniversary and commemorate the 2019 International Day of Persons with disabilities with theme: “Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda.

Barr. Ede Catherine, the Director of VDI in her speech encouraged the PWDs to believe in themselves because your disability should not be a hindrance for you to realize your potentials. In disability, the DIS has be removed and replaced with THIS which now goes like THISABILITY. She went further to urge persons with disability to use this day of celebration to find peace and unity among themselves and work as one in order to achieve more to the development of our dear nation Nigeria.

The President of Educational Sign Language Interpreters Association of Nigeria (ESLIAN), Mr. Omobosola Oladipupo Wumi in a keynote address speaking on Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda gave a background to disability, palliatives need to be provided for anybody with disability to cushion the effect of disability in him or her. For example, if a person with physical disability is working an office and it happens that his/ her office is in the 3^rd floor knowing fully well that even where there is lift in Nigeria, most times it wouldn’t be working. The question is that are we sensitive to this persons’ condition.

He went further to say that persons with disabilities can work optimally with other people. If facilities that can enable them work are put in place. So, SDGs is propagating inclusion in all ramification. Building an environment that is conducive for everybody. What persons with disabilities needs is creating an enabling environment for them without any barrier which was created by the society that hinders the inherent potentials of persons with disabilities? He ended with this saying, don’t sympathize, empathize.

The event also panel discussion on Factoring in needs of diverse clusters of people with disabilities in workplaces-Issues for consideration.

Mr. Timothy Tinat, National President, Association of Sign Language Interpreters of Nigeria (ASLIN) while presenting the topic to be discussed gave insight of different challenges people with disabilities are facing in their different workplaces because the challenges is basically on the kind of disability. A person with physical disability is faced with inability to access the building, A deaf may not have that challenge but he will be faced with communication barrier and a blind will be faced with inability to access writing materials because they are not on braille. If these barriers are removed and enabling facilities are put in place, persons with disabilities irrespective of the disability will be very effective in the workplaces.

The Panelists were Mr. Alphonsus Ikwueze(a blind), Barr. Callister Ugwuaneke(a blind), Ms. Aver Akighir( a person with physical disability), Ms. Alaukwu Nnenna(a person with physical disability) and Mr. Obinna Ekujereonye  (a blind).  They shared their experiences, speak on the peculiarity of the challenges as it affects the work and daily living.

The major issues identified from the discussion were attitudinal barrier, communication barrier, infrastructural barriers and institutional barrier. Attitudinal barrier, the employer sees persons with disability as object of charity even when they are giving work, they will not be fully engaged because they are seen as if they only need to work to sustain themselves not to contribute anything at the workplace for example you will see where they will suggest to a person with disability not bother coming to work. Communication Barrier, for instance, a good percent of Nigerians does not understand the deaf and this is greatly affecting the deaf in the workplace because they cannot effectively communicate with others. Infrastructural barrier, this is one of the greatest problems faced by persons with physical disabilities, a situation whereby a person with physical disability have his or her office located at 4^th, 5^th, 3^rd, 2^nd floor of a building with no lift. Some cases, even the entrance door will not be accessible as well.

With these barriers, they will simply tell the person that he or she should not bother to come. Institutional Barrier, most policies that guide the workplaces did not put in consideration persons with disabilities. The policies or the office rules and guidelines are not inclusive and this has made it impossible for persons with disabilities to have access to facilities that will enhance their work. The policy would have factor in the peculiar challenges of persons with disabilities and made provision to address them. For example, it is a fact that persons with disabilities spends more on transportation by the virtue of the disability, they cannot effectively use the public transport by so doing they spend so much going and coming back from work. This challenge has contributed in no small measure the inefficiency and absent from by persons with disabilities. When they can no longer cope with high transport fare and they will still take care of other needs from the same salary.

Some solutions were proffered to address these issues: a. more awareness should be created in the media so that the public will understand that disability does not mean inability. b) Training on sign language should form part of the trainings staff embark upon, offices should also engage the service of a sign language whenever they have a deaf as their staff. C) All public building should be made accessible and there should enabling facilities that will help the blind to access information within the office. D) All office guidelines should be made inclusive and government should review salary and wages commission policy to include special allowance for persons with disabilities to assist them cope with the challenges while working.

The permanent secretary, Enugu State Liason Office, Barr. Chuka Ugwu and Bright Ekweremmadu, Country Director, CBM received Awards from VDI for their contribution towards an inclusive society.

Deaf Women Association of Nigeria (DWAN) Abuja Chapter on Thursday 5^th December, 2019 organized her 6^th edition of Deaf women Health Awareness week & International Day for persons with disabilities with the theme: The Future is Accessible and sub theme: Count Us In, we are Women Too.

The Chairperson of the association, Mrs. Helen Beyioku-Alase speaking at the event appreciated the commitment of the Executive Secretary of FCT Health & Human services for approving the training of health workers in sign language. The training if it will be sustained, would go a long way towards breaking the barriers of communication the deaf women faced in the hospital. It is a known fact that when comes to sexual reproductive health, deaf women don’t get adequate information. The confidentiality that supposed to exist between the health care provider and the patients, inadequate sign language in the hospitals has made it practical impossible, sign language interpreter is already a third party. She called on FCT Health and Human services to extend the sign language training to more hospitals and possibly cover all the health practitioners working in FCT owned hospitals. It will be the catalyst that will completely remove the communication barrier faced by deaf people especially deaf women in Nigeria.

The representative of the Executive Secretary, Mrs Bukola Azeez, the Assistant Director (PPP) FCT- HEALTH speaking at the event said that they are committed towards implementation of the issues raised by Deaf women. She further assured the association would be involved in a health-related policy formulation process in the FCT. She also assured that the secretary is making effort to see that the sign language interpretation form part of school curriculum in the FCT. The health workers in the FCT will be provided with several means of communicating with the deaf including sign language interpretation.

Lawrence Idemudia during his goodwill message applauded the DWAN for making it possible for deaf people access healthcare without third party. He called on people to support DWAN because they are working for the good of deaf women and girls.

Ikalone Udo, a life coach and one of the partners of DWAN, pledged to support DWAN all the way to ensure that DWAN achieved all its set objectives. She called on those who have hiding deaf people in their houses to allow them explore the opportunity and also work with other deaf people to achieve great things.

The Women leader, JONAPWD, FCT Betty Mube spoke on unity in the struggle of Deaf women describing them as the best within the disability community because it was the co-operation with the leader that made it possible for them to achieve the much they have achieved, having health workers trained on sign language and employment of sign language interpreters, she called on the DPOs to work together to achieve much more.      

The event also witnessed the presentation of a keynote address by Marie Stopes Nigeria on the Future is Accessible.  The presenter Mr. Onyekachi gave an Overview of disability, a snapshot of the Nigerian reality(a population of the persons with disabilities and lack of disability related health facilities and deliberate funding for health issues for PWDs such as health insurance), Barriers to Inclusion and Issues around Disabilities and Sexual Reproductive Health such as low levels of sexual education, lack of access to family planning and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights,  social isolation(self-stigma) , gender based violence, ignorance of the service providers. He spoke on the cornerstones for disability of disability inclusion which he mentioned the following (1) Attitude: respect and dignity, 2) Communication: Inclusive Communication, 3) Accessibility: barrier free society, and 4) Active Involvement. He also spoke on Inclusive SRH Programming, the need to carry along the persons with disabilities, organize a comprehensive sexuality education for persons with disabilities, create access to sexual and reproductive services and implementing plans, policies and programmes that supports SRHR with emphasis on women and girls with disabilities. He concluded by saying that government and the general public should identify the barriers and proactively remove them to enhance the full potential of persons with disabilities.

DWAN FCT appreciated the Executive Secretary of FCT Health with an award for supporting Deaf women all the way to ensure that communication is enhanced within the hospitals in the FCT. Responding on the award, Mrs. Azeez expressed joy over the award gave to her boss and said that it is a motivation to do more and promise that the secretariat will be with DWAN FCT in all their project next year.

DWAN FCT also honoured Dorothy Njamanze with an award for carrying along deaf community in all her sexual/gender-based violence documentaries but she was absent to receive the award.

The event which was supported by CBM and partnership Marie Stopes Nigeria was well attended by Deaf Community including the National President DWAN.

The Executive Secretary of FCT Health and Human Services donated some gifts of drugs for women to DWAN FCT.

by Chris Agbo

On Saturday 7^th December, 2019, Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) organized a disability inclusion roundtable in Abuja to commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities with the theme: Promoting the participation of Persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2020 Development Agenda.

The Executive Director, Inclusive Friends Association, Grace Jerry in her speech said that the main reason for the event was to raise the public consciousness towards the Discrimination Against Persons with disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 because even though part 1, section 2(b) of the act matches the theme of this year’s International Day of persons with disabilities. Not much has been done to implement the Act. The event was also to take action on the 2030 development agenda and resounding the universal call to Leave No One Behind. It simply means that over 28.5 million persons with disabilities who have been marginalized even with the passage of the disability law. To also ascertain the level of election inclusion.

The 2030 agenda is for everybody irrespective of the persons’ condition and status. The Sustainable Development Goals unlike MDGs addressed disability issues concerning political and socio-economic aspiration.

She went further to proffer steps that must be taken to Leave No PWDs Behind towards achieving SDGs 2030. She called on President Muhammadu Buhari as a matter of urgency establish The National Commission for Persons with disabilities in line with Part VI, Section 31(1) of the Disability Act. Call on the National Assembly to consider electoral reforms in line with section 30(1) of Disability Act. Amend to reflect the peculiar needs of persons with disabilities in the electoral process.

She concluded by informing the government that PWDs have great expectation that they will finish what they started in January by constituting a commission to oversee the implementation of the act.  She specially thanked National Democratic Institute (NDI) for their technical support, USAID and UKAID for their financial support and not leaving out SAVE the Children for supporting the event.

The event was witnessed music performance by Blind & Deaf Children’s Choir, drama for Deaf drama group where they dramatized how the feeling will be like when the disability commission is finally established by Mr. President.

The event also witnessed panel discussion on “PWDs in the world of unemployment” Implementing the 5% employment quota for PWDs in MDAs towards the sustainable development goals. After a presentation and insight on the topic by Jide Ojo, Executive Director, OJA Development Consults, the panelists were set up and the discussants were Barr. Melody Omosah(a blind)-President, Network for the Advancement of people with Visible Disabilities(NAPVID), Jake Epelle(a person with albinism)-The Chief Executive Officer, The Albino Foundation, Daniel Onwe(a person with physical disability) -Lead Partner, Daniel and Sophina, Patience Dickson( a person with physical disability) -Executive Director, Advocacy for Women with Disabilities Initiative, and Catherine Edeh Nnadi(a deaf) -Vice President, Association of Lawyers with disabilities in Nigeria(ALDIN). Ben Aga-Senior Program Manager, National Democratic Institute (NDI) moderated the session and the panelists took time to explain the problems, proffer solutions and also narrated what they have done in the past towards addressing the challenges imposed on PWDs by unemployment. It was interactive, many PWDs asked questions while some made contributions to the topic.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of award to some individuals who have contributed in no small measure to the success of the Access Nigeria Project. The award is described as Access Nigeria Leadership Award for Promoting Inclusion. The recipients of the awards were Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola, INEC National Commissioner, Hajj. Amina Zakari, INEC National Commissioner, Prof. Antonia SImbine, INEC National Commissioner, Bello Lankunya, Deputy Director CSOs/PWDs, INEC, Sen. I.D Gyang, Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Defence and Barr. Melody Omosah, President Network for the Advancement of People with Visible Disabilities (NAPVID), the inventor of braille ballot guide that the blind is now using to vote.

SOME OF THE PICTURES OF THE EVENT

by Chris Agbo

The Engraced Ones prayer support and Advocacy Initiative on Sunday 8^th December, 2019 held a children party for children with intellectual disabilities, other children, their parents, teachers and guardians to mark end of the year in Abuja.

The Founder of the group, Mrs. Biby Yinkere speaking at the event, read out all the NGO have achieved in the course of the year such as collaboration with Jesus Kids Foundation for a successful Parents gathering in Abuja, collaboration with IKE foundation for an awareness walk for autism, successful outings in several radio and TV shows, children program which gave birth to Engraced Clubs, the Club embarks on a school tour to sensitize the students and their teachers about children with special needs, the NGO went further to recruit some of these children and they are now strong advocates for the children with special needs, collaboration with National Orientation Agency for an awareness walk and a press conference about children with special needs. The NGO collaborated with so many other organizations and individuals to organize a an awareness/sensitization walk to mark the World Cerebral Palsy Day, there was also 6weeks intensive training of the parents of these children on what they should know about the condition of their children, the NGO also used the social media to create a lot of awareness of the special needs, the NGO took the advocacy to Bayelsa state, engaged the government, took to advocacy to churches in the state. The NGO during summer, organized inclusive summer school where the children with special needs learnt a lot about general life. Remarkably in September, The NGO set up a school for children with special needs. She said that by the glory of God, The NGO achieved all that it set out to achieve and even more than the expectation. She appreciated all other organizations and individuals who supported in different ways, financially, technically and morally. She prayed that God will reward them. She said that the NGO will not rest until they achieve a world whereby all the hope of these children with intellectual disabilities and their parents are restored. A situation whereby the education of these children will no longer be a tough task to their parents.

Interestingly the children with special needs performed fashion parade, dances to thrill the crowd, there is a lot of talents abound in the children.

The highlight of the event was the award presentation to those who have contributed immensely to the success story of the Engraced ones. There were different categories of the award and they were based on the support form the individual rendered to the growth of the group.

There were close to 50 recipients of these awards of excellence and interestingly, three persons with disabilities, Liman Usman(The Presenter AIT Will and Zeal), Omotunde Ellen Thompson(Founder, Centre for Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities) and Agbo Chris Obiora(The Publisher, The Qualitative Magazine(a disability advocacy magazine)) were among which was based on the support they have giving to the Engraced ones for the good of their compatriots Children with disabilities.

You will recall that The Engraced ones is an NGO, prayer support and advocacy initiative with the main purpose of rallying round one another as parents of these children and to sensitize the public about their condition while advocating for better health, education and good living condition of these vulnerable children.

by Chris Agbo

BBC Media Action on 4^th of December, 2019 in Abuja organized Abuja stakeholders meeting on media engagement to the implementation of Nigeria disability act, UNCRPD and other policies as regards to improving the employability of persons with disabilities.

The participants at the meeting were media practitioners, organization of persons with disabilities (OPDs), Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government.

It is a three-year project supported by DFID to increase the employability of persons with disabilities. The project is expected to do the following to achieve the set objectives:

1. Capacity building of PWDs with employable skills
2. Reviewing the curriculum of TVTE’s to integrate employable skills and that of professional institute to mainstream inclusiveness
3. Through Chartered Institite of Personnel Management, we are increasing the disability-awareness of HR professionals
4. With the OPDs, they are advocating to the federal state government to implement the employment quota in the national disability act
5. Via the organized private sector and NGO forums, they are sensitizing and reviewing the HR policies of their members organization
6. Leveraging on the local media partners to increase employers and public awareness on the potential of PWDs to organization.

They will be working in six states, one each in geopolitical zones and FCT. The states are Enugu, Bauchi, AkwaIbom, Kwara, Lagos, Kano and FCT. The pilot phase is in Lagos, Kano and FCT.

Dr. Adebayo, the chairman of JONAPWD, Lagos Chapter, who was the resource person at the meeting took the participants the legislation and policies on disability issues, how disability has gained prominent because the SDGs at a large extent captured the needs of persons with disabilities. The essence of the session was getting the media and other participant abreast with the relevant laws and instrument that has equip them to use their platforms to propagate the issues affecting persons with disabilities.

The participants were grouped to do an exercise of identifying the barriers faced by persons with disabilities, make suggestions on how these barriers can be removed.

 The major takeaways from the meeting were:

1. Media houses should stop sending different faces to cover disability issues to aid expertise on disability related reportage.
2. MDAs should study their law, find out where their roles within the law and put process in place to support implementation.
3. Media houses should make their buildings accessible up to their studios to ensure person with disabilities access their facilities whenever they have interviews.
4. Media houses should bring the disability perceptive on any topic on development because disability is a crosscutting issue, it touches every sector.
5. Media houses should always invite those who have the requisite knowledge to speak on disability issues in order to push across the right message.
6. Media should take ownership of the disability issues and formulate programmes to sensitize the public.
7. Advocacy should be taken to National Universities Commission to introduce disability reporting in the mass communication curriculum in the Universities across Nigeria. This will encourage some journalists can pick it up as area of interest.   

SOME PICTURES

It was a funfair as Abuja Association of the Deaf held their 2019 end of year get together on Saturday 7^th December, 2019.

The event witnessed the presence of prominent members of Deaf community in FCT and Beyond. It was a colourful event with members of the association all in a uniform Ankara and Ankara was enough that some members made it for the children.   

The chairman of the association Mr. Omoregie Ephraim told our correspondent that the essence of the event was to thank God for keeping them alive till date. Again, to share love among themselves and their families.

SEE THE PICTURES

The National Association of the blind (NAB) FCT Chapter on Sunday 7^th December, 2019 organized its end of the year party to celebrate a successful year. It was a fun filled event, there were enough to eat and drink. there were also dancing games and other activities that made that day a memorable one. The chairman of the association Mr. Obinna Ekujereonye expressed gratitude over what they were able to achieve this year, he appreciated the members for their co-operation and appeal that they show more commitment in the coming year to ensure more success for the association. He urged government to constitute a commission for disability without further delay so that persons with disabilities will feel since of belonging in scheme of things in Nigeria.

SOME PICTURES: