The Abia State Commission for the Welfare of Disabled Persons has called for collaboration with the state Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection to enhance the inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWDs).
The Chairman of the commission, Mr David Anyaele, made the call on Monday in Umuahia, when he paid courtesy visit to the Commissioner, Mrs Ngozi Felix, in Umuahia.
Anyaele said it was paramount for both offices to partner to alleviate poverty and eradicate barriers limiting over 400,000 PWDs in the state.
He said: “Any time you open the media space, what you see and hear is poverty unleashed all over the place, which indirectly means that the number of PWDs is increasing.
“This is because poverty causes disability and disability causes poverty.
“We recognise that your ministry will be putting out measures through social safety programmes and engaging people in rural areas to alleviate poverty among them.
“We also understand that this will involve designing of different programmes, be it recreational digital training, sharing of palliatives, either through cash transfers, grants, cooperative support, food supplies and other materials.
“This is why we are seeking partnership with your office to pull people with disability from poverty, reduce the impacts of disability, empower and enhance their inclusion.”
Responding, the commissioner commended Anyaele’s initiative to share ideas and also explore possible ways of collaboration with the ministry.
Felix described the visit as timely, saying that it came at the time the ministry was preparing its budget.
She said that plans were underway to ensure the inclusion of PWDs in all the ministry’s programmes.
“The ministry oversees the welfare and management of all the vulnerable groups in Abia, especially PWDs.
“We know there is a huge number of PWDs from across the different clusters and in line with the mandate of the governor, we do not discriminate against them even in our policies.
“We understand that disability does not mean inability to contribute but the ability to contribute differently to the development of the society,” she said.
Felix said that the Office of the Wife of the Governor was also working to ensure that women and girls with disabilities were included in all programmes.(NAN)
