By Philomina Attah/ EricJames Ochigbo

The Justice Department and Peace Caritas Initiative (JDPCI) an agency of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, has called on stakeholders to renew their commitment to inclusion, dignity, equality and justice in the country.

The Executive Director of JDPCI, Rev. Fr. Sebastian Sanni, made the call at the inauguration of the ‘Bold Action for Advancing Disability Rights and Inclusive Development Project’ for selected states in the North Central.

According to him, the three-year project which is in partnership with Christian Blind Mission (CBM) International, focus on how to address disability inclusion from a broader and more sustainable perspective in Benue, Plateau and the FCT.

According to the cleric, the focus is on promoting the rights, participation, dignity and inclusion of persons with disabilities.

He explained that the project would contribute to strengthening disability-inclusive systems, improving access to opportunities and essential services, while supporting participation of persons with disabilities in community development and decision-making processes.

“We, therefore, see this project as a platform for partnership, collective action and sustainable change. At JDPCI, we remain firmly committed to the principles of human dignity, social justice, participation, equity and the common good.

“We believe that a society cannot truly claim to be inclusive while persons with disabilities continue to face barriers to education, healthcare, livelihoods, employment, information, political participation, public infrastructure and other essential services.

“I wish to call on all our stakeholders to see the this project as our collective responsibility.

”We encourage government institutions to continue commitment to implementing disability-inclusive policies and strengthening systems that protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

“To civil society organiaations and development partners, we invite you to strengthen collaboration, knowledge sharing and joint advocacy.

”This is not merely launching a project. We are launching a renewed commitment to inclusion, dignity, equality and justice,” he said.

Also speaking, the Country Director for CBM, Mr Samuel Omoi, said that persons with disabilities are at the core of CBM programmes.

Represented by the Finance Expert at CBM, Mr Emmanuel Abba, Omoi said that the project is particularly focused on persons with disabilities in all three location.

“There are other disability programme CBM are funding like the Disability Rights Advocacy Project for Inclusive Development (D-RAPID) in Delta.

“It has a component for national level disability inclusive coordination, and also has disability inclusive programming implementation in Delta well as in Benue.

“It is our expectation that during the roundtable discussion session, we will discuss what are challenges in terms of disability, inclusion, in the FCT.

”Where we are in terms of legislation, in terms of implementation as well as enforcement, and also come up with recommendations that will help us to support support the disability community better,” he said.

Mr Bitrus Ameloko, the Deputy Commandant of Corps, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) FCT Command said that corps is in conjunction with the objectives of the project.

Represented by Assistant Commandant of Corps, Mrs Obi Ogechi, Ameloko said that the NSCDC is committed to the enforcement of disability laws.

Ameloko said that the NSCDC had inaugurated persons with disabilities desks across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT to swiftly attend to matters affecting PWDs.

He said that no fewer than 100 officers had been trained in sign languages and that a lot of intelligence had been gathered through the unit.

“We are here to support person with disability and to enforce the Discrimination Against Persons With Disability Prohibition Act 2018.

“So we are ready to partner with every organisation that is in intandem with this and the JDPCI objectives, as you rule out, we are here to also support that,” he said. (NAN)

Edited by Isaac Aregbesola