Mr James Lalu, the Executive Secretary, National Commission for Persons With Disabilities (NCPWD), says 35.1 million Nigerians are currently living with disabilities.

He made this known during a one-day programme for the issuance of permanent certificates to persons with disabilities in the southeast, held in Owerri on Friday.

The NCPWD boss, represented by the commission’s acting Director, Compliance and Enforcement, Mr Ikem Uchegbulam, said that the figure is based on report by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

He explained that the programme was aimed at sensitising persons with disabilities about the benefits of certification, in line with Section 28 of the Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities Act.

He added that while temporary disability certificates could be issued by medical doctors in the event that a person happens to be unable to make use of a body part for some time, permanent disability certificates are issued by the NCPWD.

According to him, only persons with valid disability certificate can obtain and claim remedies under the Act, thus the need for all Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) to obtain certificate.

Lalu also said that “in addition to acting as means of identification, the Act has made the certificate legal requirement for obtaining remedy from the law court, hence the need for possession of the certificate.

“A recent WHO report estimates that about 35.1 million persons have disabilities in Nigeria, so, the commission is doing its best to ensure that they have access to all their rights as enshrined in the constitution.”

The Imo Commissioner for Women Affairs and Vulnerable Groups, Mrs Nkechi Ugwu, thanked the commission for efforts toward alleviating the plight of PWDs.

Ugwu, who was represented by the ministry’s Director of Administration and Finance, Mrs Ozioma Nwigwe, said the Imo Government would continue to champion the cause of persons living with disabilities in the state.

The event was attended by clusters of the Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities, including the visually impaired, deaf and the dump. 

Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, is eyeing a deal for Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy.

Ten Hag wants to add competition to his squad for Rasmus Hojlund.

Guirassy is enjoying an incredible start to the season with 15 goals in only eight Bundesliga starts

According to the UK Guardian, the Red Devils are extremely interested in Guirassy’s services.

The Guinea international’s contract has a €17.5 million release clause.

Ten Hag wants Guirassy as Hojund has had a challenging start to his Premier League career and has failed to score or assist in the competition.

By Timi Sanni

I arrived at this world already primed for pain—
the hurt, persistent, primal, poised.

Born on the rubble in the wake of the war,
I was no different from that child
birthed in the aftermath of the world’s worst divorce.

The world knew nothing of my birthing,
but everything about the conjugal knife
which came before and thus was senior.

So I learned quickly to tiptoe
around origin and place, fearful
of what mines a misstep might make.

I learned to shut my ears to the music of pain
so that what came opening in blooms
were the red valves of my heart.

But today, my father is dying
beneath this broken bridge
and all those lessons become lesions
whipping me into a wound.

My father speaks
of the towers
in the voice of his wife—
that woman who fled long ago
from cot to comfort.
In the distance, the tall metal ghosts do nothing
but remind me how far we fell from grace.

My father says: once, there was a republic;
no towers, no undercity. He says once,
love was a spirit that walked amongst us
in garbs too green to grab. He says—

And then, I am telling him to stop.
I am lying to him
like I always have. It’s okay, Pa, I say.
It’s okay. Though there is nothing of such
in this place of rust.

What even is okay? Death happens
to memory, and like a fool, I forget
the meaning of words.

My father, dying now at my breast like a child.
What milk do I have to give?

.

.

BIO:
Timi Sanni is a writer, editor, and multidisciplinary artist from Lagos, Nigeria. He is the founder of The Muslim Write Initiative and a member of The Deadliners.

The recipient of the 2021 Anita McAndrews Poetry Contest Award and winner of the 2022 Kreative Diadem Contest, his works appear or are forthcoming in Black Warrior Review, New Delta Review, Cincinnati Review, Lolwe, Wax Nine, and elsewhere.

He is an alumnus of Nairobi Writing Academy, and was an attendee at the Revolutionary Poetics Masterclass with Kaveh Akbar.