By Ngozi Nwankwo
As a means of evaluating the mandate performance of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities in the last four years, Chief Ayuba Gufwan, the Executive Secretary, NCPWD, has affirmed that Data remains a veritable tool for proper planning and executions of all disability inclusive projects in Nigeria.
Gufwan made this known recently in Abuja as he received in audience, a delegation from The leprosy Mission, Nigeria.
Further in his address, Gufwan took time to emphasise on the importance of Data gathering and processing which he described as the fundamental aspect of socio-economic development of any nation.
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“We must prioritize facts and figures of various clusters in the Disability community in order to get it right” he opined.
The ES also insisted that the era of speculations has gone and that the need to ascertain the actual number of persons with disabilities is pertinent.
“Over the years, persons with disabilities are believed to be about 35.5 million in Nigeria which is of course, a staggering figure but, we must revisit this and ascertain the authenticity of this figure and update it if necessary” he said.
In his presentation, the Head of Programmes and Operations, Leprosy Mission, Nigeria, Dr. Pius Sunday Ogbu outlined the policy direction and programs of the Leprosy Mission Nigeria (TLMN) which expressly aims to support the Federal government in its inclusive drive.
He also mentioned that the TLMN will be celebrating its 150 years in Nigeria and is targeting a comprehensive survey of the progress made with the discrimination Act, 2018 since the inception of the Commission, which will be championed by the Commission.
” TLMN has moved its interest beyond Leprosy treatment to other forms of Disabilities such as mental health” he disclosed.
Ogbu, however, identified some of the Disability partners such as the Australian Embassy which he said is willing to assist the Commission to ameliorate the plights of persons with disabilities in Nigeria through the provisions of the needed funds to tackle pressing disability issues and enhance inclusivity.