The Nigeria business community has pledged its commitment to comply with the provisions of the disability laws, especially in providing five per cent employment opportunities for People Living with Disabilities.

They made the commitment at a conference recently held in Lagos between members of the business community and the management of National Commission for Persons With Disabilities led by the commission’s Executive Secretary, James Lalu.

Speaking with journalists on Sunday in Abuja, Mr Lalu said the conference was attended by 57 top private business organisations including, KFC, MTN, Access Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Unilever Nigeria PLC, Total Energy among others.

He said the business entities equally agreed to provide easy accessibility of PwDs to their business environment as well as accommodation in their workplaces for the disability community.

“Based on this commitment, I see a cheering business community, committing themselves to making sure that they comply with the provisions of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 as well as the regulations on accessibility for PwDs.
“I can boldly say that we are making progress on the issue of accessibility and we have created awareness on the need for the general public to embrace the disability community. This is very impressive and we also require the support of each and everybody to make this a success,” he said.

Mr Lalu said that in the public sector, the mandatory five per cent employment opportunity quota for PWDs is captured in section 28 and 29 of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Act.

In achieving this, the executive secretary said the commission partnered with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.

He said a circular had been issued on inclusion of the provision in the public service rules to ensure its maximum compliance.

Mr Lalu said the commission recently secured over 200 employment opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in line with the Act

The ES also disclosed that the commission was planning to launch a platform for employers and potential PwD employees, where organisations seeking recruitment can advertise.

To prepare PwDs for competitive employment opportunities, Mr Lalu said the commission signed Memorandum of Understanding with five universities to establish the Centre for Disability Studies.

He said, “Starting with the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, the centre for disability studies, is expected to run five different degree programmes. The first is the Bachelor of Accessibility Engineering, which will be able to produce experts, independent consultants that will have the technical know-how on how to provide assistive facilities for PwDs. All buildings from the start are expected to engage the services of accessibility consultants, who will monitor the building from the design up to completion level to make sure these accessibility features are properly fitted into the building. It is only after this conformity that the building will be qualified to be issued with the National Accessibility Compliance Certificate.”
The second programme, according to Mr Lalu, is Bachelor of Science Degree in Rehabilitation Management, expected to train intermediate rehabilitation experts that would provide rehabilitation services to PwDs at the community level.
Another programme, according to the ES, is Bachelor of Art in Sign Language, which will be studied in Nigerian major languages.
Mr Lalu said that it was a deliberate policy to produce sign language experts in Nigerian Languages who would bridge the gap between the deaf community and the hearing ones.
“Our mandate is to make sure we deploy sign language interpreters to all government offices and organisations where their services are needed,” he said.
Mr Lalu said the institutions would also run degree programmes on Assistive Technology, (B.A Tech on Assistive Technology) aimed to train PwDs or any interested persons on design, manufacturing, assessment and administration of assistive technology for PWD.
“Assistive devices are supposed to be customised because a wheelchair for persons who have spinal cord injury is different from the wheelchair of survivors of polio. So, the degree programme is expected to carry along all this to make sure that everything is fitted for PwDs,” he said.
Mr Lalu reiterated the commitment of the commission to providing opportunities for PwDs and standing in defence of their rights and dignity.
(NAN)