NCPWD Executive Secretary, James Lalu
The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) says it has integrated about 700 ex-military personnel, who had their limbs amputated and eventually dismissed from the service as a result of Boko Haram insurgency.
It also said there are about 31.5 million Nigerians living with disability and the number keeps increasing.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, James Lalu, stated this on Thursday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Special Duties to defend his agency’s 2021 budget.
He, however, appealed for an upward review of the commission’s budget to meet with the increasing demand of its capital budget.
“Recently, we have to integrate about seven hundred ex-military personnel who had their limbs amputated and eventually dismissed from the service due to the Boko Haram insurgency. We have to provide artificial limbs for them to ensure they are reintegrated back to the society and live a normal life,” he said.
Lalu noted that disability has become a developmental issue that needs to be properly tackled.
He warned that failure to address this issue will place serious burden on the government.
The Executive Secretary said the budget increase would take care of education, healthcare and livelihood of people with disabilities.
He noted that a lot of disabled persons take to begging on the street when they cannot meet with their basic needs.
Lalu also disclosed that the commission intends to set up zonal, states and local government offices to reach out to all its members living in the rural areas.
Responding, the chairman of the committee, Senator Yusuf A. Yusuf (APC, Taraba), urged the commission to create a database of all its members across the country and design empowerment training for them especially those in the rural areas for a positive impact.