The Albino Foundation Public Notice
By Ruby Leo
The Executive Secretary, National Commission for Persons With Disabilities, Mr. James D. Lalu has lamented that 80% of his members reside in slums thereby worsening health.
James Lalu made this known when he visited the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Sustainable Development Goals, Princess Adejoke Orelope -Adefulire in Abuja today, 13th July, 2021,
Seeking mutual collaboration to deliver the benefits of the SDGs to Persons with disabilities, Lalu in a statement signed by the head of media and publicity, NCPWD, Mbanefo John Michael noted that 80% of PWDs live in rural areas in severe conditions.
His words, “Most of them do not have habitable homes but make do with slums which even worsen their health status” he said, as he further lamented that this factor has affected productivity amongst PWDs.
Lalu underpinned that all of the 17 SDGs revolve around the basic things of life out of which Housing (shelter) is very essential.
Speaking on his recent visits to the Federal Mortgage Bank and the Federal Housing Authority to form partnership in order to secure affordable homes for Persons with disabilities, Lalu urged for collaboration on the 7 points in the SDGs for PWDs.
The NCPWD boss said that he inspected the Housing Units being built by the Federal Government in fulfillment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda of providing mass Housing for Nigerians commensurates with the accessibility requirement of Persons with disabilities.
Responding Princess Adejoke Orelope -Adefulire congratulated the ES on his appointment which she described as a worthy consideration.
She encouraged him to be optimistic and remain committed to the enormous task ahead of him. She lauded his zeal for carrying the burden of the community of Persons with Disabilities on his shoulders.
Princess Adejoke underscored that SDGs explicitly include Disability and Persons with Disabilities 11 times. She said this is evident in the areas of Education, growth and employment, inequality, accessibility of human settlement enhanced by data collection and monitoring of the SDGs. She equally reiterated the provision by the United Nations for Persons with disabilities and gave a link for onward correspondence i.e. enable@UN.org.
Lastly, the SSA assured of a virile partnership between the SDG and NCPWD which she said will birth a committee that would focus on a Short, Medium and Long term plan in order to come up with a substantial report in the next 2 to 3 weeks from today.
