The Disability Community in Nigeria has called for full implementation of disability laws in the country to ensure inclusiveness.
They said this at the National Disability Convening, organised by the Ford Foundation, in collaboration with the National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPWD) with the theme: ”Reflecting on Progress, Evaluating the Implementation of the Disability Act in Nigeria” on Monday in Abuja.

Mr James Lalu, the Executive Secretary, NCPWD, said that the Disability Act was a product of a united struggle by the disability community in the country spanning over 19-years.
Lalu said that the commitment of President Bola Tinubu through increased in budgetary allocation to the NCPWD was the best thing to have happened to the disability community.
‘’We have never had it so good. We are here to deliberate on the implementation of the Act and for the commission to know where we have reached and to harmonise the unity going forward.
”When you look at the implementation of the Act, the commission is working in the area of accessibility. We have already produced the accessibility regulations.
”Our collaboration with Nasarawa State University on the establishment of Centre for Disability Studies will see us having degree programmes on Accessibility Engineering, Assisting Technology, Nigerian Sign Language and Disability Inclusive Development,” Lalu said.
He appreciated the Ford Foundation and other stakeholders for their contributions to the disability community.
Also, the Senior Programme Officer, Ford Foundation, Dr Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima, identified lack of data as a major challenge in dealing with disability community in Nigeria.
”I think lots of data available is not sufficiently disaggregated, and so we don’t have accurate numbers in terms of the proportion of our population that has experienced disability in the country.
”So part of the work we supported over this years is to look at the right indicators that will help institutions responsible to collect accurate data and hopefully lead to a point where there will be accurate disaggregated data,” he said.

Similarly, Dr Chike Okogwu, the Executive Director, Centre for Ability, Rehabilitation and Empowerment (CARE) advocated for more funding for PWDs through NCPWD.

‘’Without funding, the implementation of the Disability Act will not be done effectively.

”There should be a deliberate action good enough to make the commission work better. Please provide adequate funding for NCPWD, and that way, we can do more to support PWDs,” he said.

Reports says that the event brought together personalities from the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Ministry of Labour and Productivity, disability community and other relevant stakeholders. (NAN)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday appointed the country’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber the interim president following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

Raisi was, on Sunday, killed in the crash along with the country’s Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian and some other senior Iranian officials in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan.

Khamenei made the appointment known in a condolence message on the death of  Raisi and the others.

The leader described Raisi as a popular, capable, hard working and indefatigable President, expressing  sadness at the “bitter news of his martyrdom”.

Khamenei said that, according to Article 131 of Iran’s Constitution, the first vice president would be appointed at the helm of the executive arm.

He said that the first vice president was duty-bound to, in cooperation with the parliament speaker and the judiciary chief, make arrangements for election of a new president within 50 days.

(Xinhua/NAN)

Cross River Government says it has received its own share of the palliatives distributed by the Federal Government to all the 36 states of the federation from the National Food Reserve.
Director-General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Rev. James Anam, disclosed this to newsmen in Calabar on Monday.

Anam listed the items received to include: garri, maize and rice.
He stated that while the state got maize and garri from the national food reserve, it received the rice from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
The director-general assured of equitable distribution of the items across the 18 local government areas of the state.
“We received a total of 14,040 bags of 50kg of maize, 3,380 bags of 50kg of garri from the national food reserve, while we received 14,000 bags of 25kg of rice from the federal ministry of agriculture.
“These items were received by the state just last week,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Information, Mr Erasmus Ekpang, has said that a committee that would ensure equitable distribution of the items to the intended recipients was already in place.
Ekpand said unlike before, the committee was an all-inclusive one involving security agencies and other groups, including people living with disabilities.
“The committee comprises personnel of DSS, police, immigration, SEMA, women group, youths as well as people with disabilities.
“In fact, each of the group members will be physically present in all the local government during the distribution, whose date is yet to be determined.
“The essence is to ensure that only those who are meant to receive the palliatives get them,” he said. (NAN)