By Abayomi Adeshida, Abuja
American President-Elect, Vice President Joseph Biden has been urged to consider the return of Humanitarian Administrator of global repute.
Judy Heumann as the Head of the Office of the International Disabilities Rights at the State Department so as to guarantee the full confidence of the over one billion persons with disabilities globally in the promise of the Biden Presidency to return America to take back her leadership worldwide among all peoples, irrespective of race, tribe or creed.
The Office of the International Disabilities Rights at the State Department under the Obama/Biden Presidency provided an interface between the American Government and countries that sought to domesticate the United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities as well well as other diaspora relationship interventions.
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Speaking with Vanguard from Texas on how Nigeria can be positioned to gain the full benefits of the Joe Biden Presidency, President of the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International Incorporation, Chief Eric Ufom maintained that it was a consensus among advocates for the rights of persons with disabilities globally to have Judy Heumann back at the helm of affairs in the International Disabilities Rights at the State Department once it is re-opened.
When asked why it was a popular view among the stakeholders globally, Chief Ufom said, “if the President-Elect, Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect, Kamala Harris can bring back Judy Heumann to the Office of the International Disabilities Rights at the State Department, that singular appointment will help America to finish up what they started under the Obama/Biden presidency for over thirty-one million Nigerians and over one billion persons with disabilities worldwide.
“President Obama and Vice President Biden through the Former Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton established the Office of the International Disabilities Rights headed by Judy Heumann.
“Judy was a humanitarian administrator who successfully used the office to establish new friends for America and strengthened existing ties with people where she helped to extend the American hands of hope to the hopeless around the world.
“For example, she did everything we required her to do, including arranging meetings with high profile officials of the American government during our diplomatic meetings and her efforts resulted into the moves by Nigeria to start implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,.
“President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan signed and ratified this important convention with its accompanying optional protocol on March 30.2007 and September 24, 2010, respectively under Nigeria’s implementation of the UN Charter and its treaty which Nigeria, equally signed and ratified on October 7th, 1960.
“The declaration of Vice President Joe Biden as the President-Elect to be sworn-in on January 20th, 2021 was a huge answer to the prayers of Persons With Disabilities globally because we believe that a Biden Presidency would re-open the Office of the International Disabilities Rights at the US Department of State, of course, headed by Judy Heumann.
“In his initial reaction to his victory as the 46th President of the United States of America, Vice President Joe Biden declared his intentions to take back the American leadership worldwide, which includes issues that relate with disability.
“Therefore, bringing Judy Heumann back to the Office of the International Disabilities Rights at the State Department will help Biden succeed in taking back America’s roles on Disability in Nigeria and worldwide.
“We were all jolted when President Donald Trump closed down the office as soon as he took over the leadership of the American government and that momentary pause had caused a huge setback for the benefits of the office to over one billion persons with disabilities around the world.
“When President Trump announced the shutdown of the Office which gave us as well as many diaspora teams direct support, we felt the huge gap created because it was the support from the office under Judy Heumann that we used to bring huge success stories for thirty-one million Nigerians with Disabilities.
“It showed that we made huge gains from Judy and her office as a result, we had a valid example of the reasons to bring her and her department back to finish up what they started.
“Having experienced the enthusiasm with which she worked with us and the areas we covered under her, we strongly believe that with her back in the office with a new vigour to do more, we would need little or no efforts to continue to enjoy the full assistance of the American government to assist us with a very strong footing for our newly established National Disabilities Rights Commission.
“This our Commission became a reality through the help of Judy Heumann, the Office of the International Disabilities Rights at the US Department of State and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)”, Chief Ufom told Vanguard during the chat.
