The Chairman of the Lagos state chapter of Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, Dr. Adebukola Adebayo has asked the Lagos state government to strengthen Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs, LASODA, to become a commission.
Making this call during an interview with BONews Service at the end of the media chat oorganized by JONAPWD to mark the International Day of Persons with Disability 2020, Dr. Adebayo asked Lagos State government to well equip LASODA to address the needs of PWDs.
Further pointing out the need for each Ministry, Department and Agencies to have a disability desk, he outlined the need to appoint somebody in the cabinet that will represent PWDs when the state is taking critical decisions.
“It’s a mixture of different effort, for example we have a Lagos State Office for Disability affairs that has not been properly strengthened to perform its functions.
“So for me, could we even strengthen LASODA and put a board in place, LASODA is not a place that the governor will now be appointing the GM after two years.
“So can you make sure that place is functioning, well-staffed and well equipped, then if it is not functioning well, we can say we need somebody, not just an SSA on disability issues but we need somebody in the cabinet, somebody that can be there when critical decisions are taken.
“You can appoint an SSA and the person will be redundant,” he added.
Speaking further, Dr. Adebayo said, “we want LASODA to be strengthened, we want the strengthening of all the MDA’s of government.
“They need to train them on how to mainstream disability into their work there is no sector that disability does not come in, buttressing that, if you strengthen the existing agencies, and make them be able to respond to disability issues, I think it will go a long way,” the JONAPWD chair said.
“Each Ministry Department and Agencies should be supported to have a disability desk so that when they are planning any intervention, policy or any program disability will be mainstreamed.
“LASODA will now be there to handle the other leg which is the standalone things that directly affect PWD’s.
“In some other states like plateau, they have a commission, at the national level, they have a disability commission; so we expect that LASODA should even be strengthened to become a commission so that it will have more power to do its work,” Dr. Adebayo added.