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Showing posts from April, 2020

Kaduna COVID-19 Lockdown, People Living with Disabilities and Inclusion

Chairman JONAPWD, Abdulaziz Suleiman , (Right) and a colleague (Middle) in a chat with CALPED's Yusuf Goje By SMITH WAYA Before the index case of Corona virus (Covid-19) in Nigeria, the Kaduna state government held a public hearing on the proposed  Kaduna state social protection policy, in line with the administration's slogan of putting the people first. The Joint National Associations of Person with Disability(JONAPWD), Kaduna chapter, as the umbrella body for people living disabilities in the State, were invited to present a position paper on their expectations of the new policy. The Disability Community took advantage of the town-hall meeting to appeal to the state government to work assiduously towards reducing poverty and hunger in their household. The Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, assured them of the state government's commitment in ensuring that no one is left behind especially people living with disabilities. Incidently, as the State governm

Kaduna COVID-19 Prevention Measures and the need for Transparency and Accountability

By YUSUF GOJE I t is obvious even to the blind and audible to the deaf that we are confronted with unusual times. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world to its knees; even the most powerful countries and leaders are desperately helpless and overwhelmed. The global economy is fast crashing, which could throw us possibly into the worst depression the world has witnessed in recent history. More depressing is the increasing number of confirmed infected cases and rising deaths; which has exposed the weakness of the global health systems to cope with such emergencies. To nip the pandemic in the bud, countries and sub-nationals have been adopting diverse approaches to halt the high rate of spread, save the infected and resuscitate the failing economies. At this point, it is pertinent to acknowledge the proactive steps taken by sub-nationals like Lagos and Kaduna state. In particular, the latter, which has taken commendable preventive measures that include mass awareness cr