By Lanre Oloyede
Founder and Executive Director of The Albino Foundation, TAF Africa, Dr. Jake Epelle, has extended his heartfelt congratulations to Hon. Mohammed Abba Isa, on his appointment as Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Needs and Equal Opportunities by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This took place Monday when the SSA paid a courtesy visit to the TAF Africa office in Abuja in continuation of his advocacy visits to stakeholders in the disablity community.
Dr. Epelle in a congratulation letter he personally signed noted that the appointment of Hon. Abba Isa was a well deserved one, adding that it is a demonstration of the love of President Tinubu for the inclusion and welfare of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria.
He described Hon. Abba Isa as a dogged advocate and vanguard of disablity rights and inclusion who has paid his dues over the years, and one who have always been part of advocacy to ensure that PWDs are included in governance.
The TAF Africa Executive Director assured the SSA of his Foundation’s support and co-operation, promising to render any assistance necessary for him to succeed in office.
” We need to support our friend to succeed. His success is our success, his failure is our failure,” Dr. Epelle said.
Dr. Epelle submitted that the assistance would come in the form of facilitaton of intervention programs in partnership with development partners, trainings, media advocacy and others.
In his remarks, the SSA to the President thanked his host for the show of love while stating that the the purpose of the visit was first to present himself to him and to explore possible areas of mutual co-operation and partnership in order to realize the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President for disablity inclusion.
The Presidential Aide acknowledged and commended the contributions of Dr. Epelle and his role as a critical stakeholder in the disabilty community, adding that his work over the years has impacted the lives of many PWDs both locally and internationally.
Hon. Abba Isa maintained that he needs all the supports he can get from all the stakeholders for him to deliver on the mandate of Mr President for his office.
“The seat of the SSA is one but I need lieutenants, people that can support me more especially you in particular. I cannot run this office alone, I need people like you because of your experience and commitment.
“We need support from both the government and development partners.The government has given us Key Performance Indicators which we must meet. We have no choice but to meet this target.
“The President appointed me SSA in line with his determination to bring all segments of the society on board, to create opportunities for PWDs, so as to achieve inclusion of PWDs in governance which is one of the renewed hope Agenda of the president.
“The president has given me the marching order to liaise with the MDAs, donor agencies, development partners, philanthropists, CSOs in order to create opportunities for PWDs to achieve the inclusive governance,” the Presidential aide stated.
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