CAN, agency partner to better lives of persons with special needs

From Okwe Obi, Abuja

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPWD) have joined forces to better the lives of persons with special needs.

NCPWD Executive Secretary, James Lalu, stated this yesterday when he visited the Present of C.A.N, Rev. Daniel Okoh, in Abuja.

Lalu explained that he wants the church to set aside a day to celebrate people with disabilities and to give slots to them to go on pilgrimage.

He said: “We want to partner with the church to enable us to 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 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.”

He added that, “As Christians in the 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.

On his part, Rev. Okoh assured Nigerians of the willingness of CAN to grant the request of the commission, adding that the visit was timely.

The cleric, who offered to be a patron of the disability community, said the church would ensure that people with special needs get slots to go on pilgrimage.

“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.

“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.”

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