James David Lalu, the Executive Secretary National Commission for Persons with Disabilities in a recent visit to the Abuja office of the National Bureau of Statistics has said that the Commission will benefit a lot in a working relationship with the Bureau.
While addressing the Management team of the Establishment, Lalu made bold to say that Persons with Disabilities are well lettered and should be given their rightful place in the society.
He opined that the act of developing and studying methods for collecting, analyzing, interpreting and presenting empirical data has taken a central dimension in the Nation building, “and as such, Data and figures of Persons with disabilities in various fields of endeavors in Nigeria is very critical to development”
“As the collection of Data is interminable, disability is going away from visible to invisible disabilities, thence, the Commission needs your assistance in mapping out Data, to ensure the employment, educational status, etc. of persons with disabilities in Nigeria ”
He also stated that NBS has the requisite needed to put the disability issues on the map as Statistics is the currency of the future.
Lalu reiterated that NCPWD is a very functional part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda as the President on resumption of duty signed the Instrument of Ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, which was adopted by the Thirtieth Ordinary Session of the Assembly, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the 29th January, 2018.
“In signing the document, it formally declared that Nigeria accepts the aforementioned Protocol and undertakes to faithfully perform and carry out the stipulations therein contained” the Executive Secretary disclosed.
He further informed that Accessibility Department of the Commission will always be ready to assist organizations, MDAs in making the right decisions in restructuring of public facilities where possible.
Lalu further reiterated the stance of sections 28 to 29 of the Disability ACT which made a clear case of 5 percent employment for Persons with Disabilities.
“We are overjoyed by this meeting, and seeing that Persons with Disabilities are employed in your establishment is a thing of joy” he concluded.
In his response, the Statistician General of Nigeria, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran stressed that the ES deserves every demand he made of the Bureau.
“The Executive Secretary is a seasoned administrator who has shown professionalism as well as commitments as the pioneer Helmsman of the Commission, the National Bureau of Statistics is more than willing to collaborate with the Commission to ensure accurate positions of persons with disabilities in Nigeria” he declared.
The Director Planning Research and Statistics NCPWD, Mr. Soji Adewale expressed his readiness as the Chief statistician of the Commission to be part of all the concerns of the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of Data as it will benefit the Commission.
The central moment of the meeting was the inauguration of a 10 man Technical Working Group of 5 persons esch from the 2 Establishments to work together on the modalities of the the proposed partnership.