Boko Haram: 700 ex-military personnel limbs amputated, dismissed — NCPD

The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities on Thursday disclosed about 700 hundred ex-military personnel, who had their limbs amputated and eventually dismissed from the service due to the Boko Haram insurgency, have been integrated

The NCPD made this disclosure during its 2021 Budget defence at the National Assembly.

It appealed for an upward review of its budget to meet with the increasing demand of its capital budget.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, James Lalu, told the lawmakers that there are about 31.5 million Nigerians living with disability and the number keeps increasing on a daily basis, especially with the recent challenges facing the nation.

Lalu said: “Recently, we had to integrate about 700 ex-military personnel who had their limbs amputated and eventually dismissed from the service due to the Boko Haram insurgency.

“We have to provide artificial limbs for them to ensure they are reintegrated back to the society and live a normal life.”

Lalu noted that disability is no more a charity issue, but has become a developmental issue that needed to be properly tackled.

He warned that failure to address this issue will place serious burden on the government, which will have to grapple with the challenge of giving out stipends that will never achieve any lasting solution.

The budget increase, he said, will take care of education, healthcare needs and livelihood of people with disabilities, pointing out that a lot of disabled persons take to begging on the street when they cannot meet with their basic needs.

Lalu also notified the Senate committee that in its 2021 Budget, the commission intends to open zonal, states and local government offices to reach out to all its members living in the rural areas.

Responding, the Committee on Special Duties, chaired by Senator Yusuf A. Yusuf, urged the commission to create a database of all its members across the country and design empowerment training for them, especially those in the rural areas, for positive impact.