The Nigeria National Association of the Deaf (NNAD) is indeed uniquely blessed with outstanding individuals and personalities past and present that have impacted and continued to impact positively on the majority of its members nationwide and this has had an admirable effect on the running of NNAD’s affairs to the extend that members believe that such personalities and individuals have been sent by the Almighty God to provide security to the entire members in the nation.
Two of such outstanding individuals and personalities that have continued to shower NNAD with undiluted blessings and abundant good tidings are without doubt, Hon. Dr. Chidi Topaz Olujie, the current NNAD incumbent president and his hardworking Vice president Hon. Mal. Haruna Mohammed.
The Duo, due to their uncompromising commitment to providing purposeful leadership to the Nigerian Deaf Community, has merited and earned huge respect, honours and recognition form within and outside NNAD’s fold. One such outstanding recognition accorded to them is the well-deserved award of traditional titles conferred on the two gentlemen as “Majidadin Kuramen Arewa ” and “Garkuwan Kuramen Arewa” by the Zazzau Emirate Council in 2022.
While the duo’s perceived primary responsibilities lay in the provision of purposeful leadership to NNAD by running it’s administrative affairs on regular basis. The two jovial gentlemen have taken it upon themselves to use their meager and hard earned personal resources to simply put smiles on the faces of Deaf persons across the country. They initiated several socially responsive programmes that have served to uplift the wellbeing and welfare of countless number of Deaf Nigerians especially women, widows, youths and artisans who disproportionately bear the brunt of the general economic downturn afflicting the country in recent times.
Possessed of a cheerful, disarming and humble disposition, Dr. Chidi Topaz Olujie and Mal. Haruna Mohammed are deeply convinced that their calls and roles as NNAD’s first and second in command respectively go far beyond mere appearance as administrative heads, but also extent to fashioning out novel and creative social intervention policies that would cater for the well-being of most downtrodden and vulnerable members of Deaf community by assisting them regularly on the areas of health, empowerment, capacity building training, education and job placement.
It can be boldly stated here and without fear of contradiction, that the number of Deaf persons across the country who have benefited from these humanitarian support engineered by Dr. Chidi and Mal. Haruna can not be quantified numerically as these humanitarian gestures are continuously being executed silently and with sincerity of purpose to earn God’s rewards not for merely seeking praises and cheap political popularity.
The kindhearted duo has made giant strides in securing the lives of many Deaf persons across the country who have faced serious life-threatening health challenges, personally supported and assisted many Deaf persons across the width and breadth of the country to register for JAMB examinations, secure gainful employment opportunities for some Deaf youth graduates because they strongly believe it is only when the majority of Deaf youth are self employed, the challenges of unemployment among the Deaf youth population would have been positively addressed.
These bold and humane interventions have attracted a lots of commendations, admiration and jovial praises to the two people-oriented gentlemen. In fact these monumental undertaking which have never been heard of in the history of NNAD as a whole has created an unbreakable bond between Dr.Chid/Haruna and the good deaf men and women of Nigeria who have never had it so good under any other leaders in the past and to this end they continue to sang their praises to the high heaven while beseeching the Almighty God to spare their lives and extent their tenure to another four years so that the entire good Deaf Nigerians would continue to bountifully reap from the rewarding dividend of their administration.