Nigerian police to recruit deaf, blind police officers, fully implement 5% PWDs reservation

The Nigeria Police say they are working to meet the five per cent employment slot reserved for persons with disabilities (PWDs) per the provisions of the National Disability Law.

Inspector general of police Usman Alkali-Baba said this on Thursday in Abuja at a three-day forum organised by the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD).

Mr Alkali-Baba said the present administration of the police was disability-friendly and working to enhance police relations with the community in Nigeria.

“I am very sure that the present administration has done and is doing almost everything to make sure that there is a cordial relationship between the police and the disability community,” stated the police chief.

He added, “There is a standing instruction in every command that the police act swiftly to the contacts from the disability community, especially with regards to complaints. And as regards to the employment of disabled people, it is relative, and I am very sure that there are disabled people in the Nigeria Police, though they may not be in operation.”

The inspector general of police also mentioned that in other departments, because of the disability, which “is relative because it is not that we have to take them from all clusters of disabilities, like the blind, the physically challenged.

“However, there are many people with disabilities, and the force is working to fully implement and execute the five per cent empowerment reservation for PWDs,” Mr Alkali-Baba explained.

Nkechi Nwakwocha, the human resources director at the Ministry of Aviation, said the aviation ministry was striving to ensure easy access to airports for PWDs.

“All these things are done to ensure that PWDs don’t have problems accessing or making movements around and within the airports,” she said. (NAN)