American Govt To Support NCPWD With $2m Education Grant For Sign Language— Amb Mary Leonard

Activities of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities has received a boost of a two million dollars grant from the American government which will be channelled towards the education of some members of the deaf community so they can be more versatile in the use of the sign language and other broaden their knowledge of communication skills so they can relate with the global deaf community.

These were part of the commitments made by the American Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Mary Berth Leonard when she led a delegation of American officials to pay a working visit to the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) in Abuja.

The meeting which was held behind closed doors had in attendance some members of the NCPWD Board led by the Chairman, Hon. Hussaini Kangiwa, Board Member Representing the SouthEast Region, Mr Oparaku Onyejelam-Jaja, and the Secretary, BOT Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD, Ms Omotunde Ellen-Thompson.Some of the American officials that joined the Ambassador at the meeting were top officials of the United States Agency for International Development in Nigeria, including the Deputy Program Office Director, Kyra Zogbekon as well as United States Embassy officials, including the Political Officer, Marcus Thornton.

Emerging from the meeting which lasted about an hour, the Ambassador announced the grant during a chat with the media when she said, “I just received two questions regarding United States interactions on issues of disabled and on issues of women. And I think those questions go to the heart of the subject of our visit today.

 “The United States believes strongly that no society or country succeeds unless all its members can fully participate and that is why we come to talk to them on some of our programmes dealing with the disabled Community.” We just recently signed more than $2 million graphics with Gallaudet University, which is a premier University in the United States and perhaps the world for the deaf. We have been working with the National Association of the deaf on ways to make educational and professional opportunities for the deaf people, for the training of sign language interpreters and many other measures,” Ambassador Leonard stressed.

She further informed reporters at the event of the efforts of the American government to make some contributions towards making the disability community in Nigeria actively participate in the country’s electoral process with some relative ease than what has been obtained in the country.

Speaking further on the meeting, she said, “We also talk about some programmes we have to ensure affordable electoral access for people who are disabled. You need to have a voice, and to have a voice you need to have access to polling stations; the polling stations have to be appropriate for people with visual impairment for example,” she said to buttress her point.

Furthermore, she said, “We had a lovely conversation today about some of the elements of the comparably new Nigerian act about the disabled and the sorts of activities that Nigeria wishes to involve. Some of my colleagues from the USAID were here to hear that and understand how they can intercept with some of our programmings.

” The United States first passed the American Disability Act in 1990 and it’s been a slow and steady battle and it’s not completed in some very different levels of government, but more than 30 years later, the physical landscape of The United State is transformed for people living with a disability. And it’s our aspiration that Nigeria introduced this activity to continue to move along that road so that all Nigerians can fully participate in their lives as well.

In his observation during the press parley, the Chairman, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, (NCPWD), Hon. Hussaini Kangiwa said that
visit of the American delegation today, led by the Ambassador, is a remarkable lift for the Disability Community in Nigeria.

The visibly elated Chairman told journalists that, ” With their pledges and transparent demonstrations of their commitments to resolving all our issues in the community, Nigeria and indeed all Nigerians will soon begin to witness the difference when persons with disabilities are allowed to make meaningful contributions to nation-building.

” A very important take away from this meeting is that it has opened the floodgates to other development partners who can also take the advantage created by this window of opportunity opened by the American government and the establishment of the Commission in Nigeria to make life meaningful to persons living with disabilities in Nigeria.

” With the outcome of this meeting today, we can work more with other Embassies as well as other stakeholders who are willing to collaborate with us to have a solid foundation for the Commission and get tangible results in no distant future,” the Chairman told reporters.

In his brief remarks during the meeting, the Chairman informed the American delegation of their initial efforts to work with civil society organizations to lay a solid foundation for the Commission.

According to him, “We have been engaging with three civil society organizations who have been very active in carrying out activities for the Disability community/

“In promoting this partnership, we have put together three programs that we believe are very necessary and desirable in bringing to the fore the challenges faced by the Disability community in which we would require your support towards implementing these programs.

“These civil societies are Advocacy for Women with Disability Initiative; Empathy Driven Women International Initiative and the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International.

” One of President Muhammadu Buhari’s progressive vision for the Disabilities Community is to ensure that the Disability Community enjoy inclusiveness. He demonstrated this by signing into law the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition)Act 2018,” Kangiwa stated.

In her brief remarks presented to the Embassy officials, the Secretary, BOT Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD, Ms Omotunde Ellen-Thompson. gave a chronicle of events that spanned the twenty years of advocacy that birthed the Commission and concluded by requesting more support from the American government, especially at the early stages to surmount all the teething challenges facing the implementation of the Nigerians Disabilities Act.

According to her, ” I, therefore, on behalf of over 31 million Nigerian with disabilities, will like to plead with the United States Government through Her Excellency Ambassador G. Mary Beth Leonard, to render maximum support to The Honorable Dr Hussaini Suleiman Kangiwa and members of his Board who will continue to follow the implementation of the laws that established the Commission to the letter. the board surely requires firm support to succeed in managing the Commission as mandated by the Disability law. The success of this pioneering Board shall help Nigeria to succeed in addressing insurgency, insecurity, terrorism and banditry. With such a result, therefore, the American Taxpayers billions of dollars donated to Nigeria annually for national security and other issues can become available to be channelled to some other sustainable developments around the world and the Nigerian model can be replicated in other countries where they are faced with similar problems.

The National Commission for Disabilities was adopted after the American Disabilities Act became a success in the United States of America. Through the efforts of some Nigerian/Americans undert= the coordination of the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International led by Chief Eric Nwabueze Ufom, in collaboration with many non-profit groups in Nigeria.

It is expected that if properly implemented, Nigerians living with disabilities and productive women would be included in the quest to make life better for themselves and most Nigerians.

Credit: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/05/american-govt-to-support-national-commission-for-persons-with-disabilities-with-2m-education-grant-for-sign-language-amb-mary-leonard/