The National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPWD) is seeking effective partnership with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to enhance the lives of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the country.
The Executive Secretary of NCPWD, Mr James Lalu, disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to the CAN President, Most Rev. Daniel Okoh, in Abuja on Thursday.
Lalu said the aim of the visit was to see how the NCPWD could work with the church to promote the rights of PWDs in Nigeria.
According to him, there are many Christians with disabilities across the world.
He said that PWDs needed to come closer to the church, so that they too could enjoy the word of salvation.
“As Christians in disability community, we have different experiences. There is an incident of a cleric, who was forced to retire because he lost his sight.
“We find it so painful, because, the church is where the less-privileged and PWDs expect to find comfort, just like Jesus Christ gave comfort to PWDs in the Bible.
“We want to partner with the church to enable us undertake advocacy for disability inclusion development.
“We want the church to set aside a day to celebrate PWDs. We want maximum support from CAN and the 36 states including FCT, to sponsor PWDs on pilgrimages, because, it will bring them closer to God.
“We also want churches to support the education of PWDs. It will also be good to build the capacity of the clergy, so they understand the rights of PWDs and know them better,” Lalu said.
He noted that a lot of PWDs, especially those on wheel chairs, did not have access to some churches due to the nature of the church buildings, adding that PWDs should not be left behind.
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“We want to be part of the church and participate actively in the activities of the church.
“We are organising a Disability Summit and would want CAN and her Islamic counterpart to participate actively.
“This will go a long way to change the negative perception and narrative of PWDs and change their lives for the better”.
In his response, Okoh expressed gratitude for NCPWD’s visit, saying that it was good and timely, as he just assumed office as the President of CAN.
He said he was not a stranger to disability, narrating a story of how his sister working in a bank later became blind due to eye surgery that went bad.
“I want to offer myself to be patron of the disability community. I have witnessed disability and lived with it. I have pastors who have children with disabilities.
“I see this as an opportunity to work with you. I want to assure you that we will partner with you on the Disability Summit.
“On accessibility, CAN has already done something. There was a time that CAN gave directive to all churches to design their building to be disability-friendly.
“However, we will continue to gradually introduce these things in the structure of CAN, because, we recognise PWDs.
“On the issue of pilgrimage, we will continue to recommend that PWDs be considered. And also, you can approach the Christian Pilgrims Board,” Okoh said.
