The National Commission for Persons With Disabilities, NCPWD, led by the Executive Secretary, Mr. James David Lalu, on Friday, visited the leadership of National Communication Commission in Abuja.
The visit was to ask for inclusiveness in digital assistance on easy communication for the person with disabilities and for a working partnership.
A statement by the Head Media and Publicity Unit, NCPWD, Mbanefo JohnMichaels, said the Executive Secretary, Lalu reinterated the urgent need to incorporate the communication needs of PWDs across the country.
Lalu said it’s necessary for the NCC to
give the required attention which would ultimately benefit the entire community of persons with disabilities.
The statement added that Lalu asked for inclusivity of PWDs in the Communication stream, adding that there’s the need to pay attention to the provisions of the 2018 Act.
“It will interest you to know that Persons with Disabilities have an array of experts in ICT who can come on board to showcase their abilities in technology, make impacts like their other counterparts in the industry.” He said.
According to him, the use of Video- Relay Service (VRS) would be of a tremendous benefit to persons with hearing issues if introduced.
He stated that such services would also help solve the challenges of 3rd party interference on privacy rights of the Deaf persons though, he emphasized the fact that it would require a considerable portion of data to be effective.
“Sometimes the call center or customer care tries to reach a deaf but, he can only see the call without being able to respond to the conversation from the caller”, he pointed out.
“Lalu then enjoined NCC to assist in spreading the advocacy around the stakeholders in the communication sector and even at the global stage.
“He also underpinned the importance of having dedicated and standardized smart lines strictly to handle issues of disabilities and short codes for voice messaging.
“Lalu further commended the NCC for donating 84 Assistive Devices to some schools in Jos, Plateau State.
“The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, while responding to the concerns of Lalu, assured the delegation that the Commission would take the right steps in accommodating persons with disabilities in the communication sector.
“Danbatta, represented at the event by the Director, Human Capital and Administration, Mr. Usman Bala, expressed his pleasure at the timely visit of the leadership of the NCPWD.
“He, however announced that NCC has recorded a total of 200 million subscribers of the telecom lines with over 150 million internet users in Nigeria.
“May I also authoritatively inform you that the ICT sector has recently contributed 18.4% to the GDP in Nigeria.” The statement reads.
“Danbatta also hinted that NCC is already in compliance with the 5% employment quota for PWDs in all MDAs as stipulated in the 2018 Act.
“Some of our staff are Persons With Disabilities and we do not discriminate against any of them” he added.
He said in order to widen the reach of the “NCC, that there are 24 emergency centers already established for timely response to requests from Nigerians across the States.
“We are equally waiting for another round of vacancy declaration in the organization so that we can give more opportunities to Persons with Disabilities,” The statement said.
