By Aderogba George
The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) has warned the public against infringement, abuse, and misuse of its name, logo in public domain without any authorisation.
The warning is contained in a statement jointly signed by the association’s board members – Alhaji Usman Nahuche, Ms. Ene Ede; Mr Abudullahi Aliyu; Alhaji Dagbo Suleman and Hajia Rabi Yusuf.
In the statement, the association said it is concerned about several uncoordinated and unregulated activities with its instituted structures across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It said that a recent analysis revealed that amongst other factors, the trend has detrimental consequences against the pursuit of JONAPWD’s core mandates.
“Worrisomely, it strongly hinders JONAPWD’s ability to robustly articulate its annual programmes and financial performances, defaces the actualities about how JONAPWD is performing and how it plans to improve its national interventions.
“Major areas for public interest, given the preamble, we hereby wish to categorically state the following use of JONAPWD’s trademarks.
“JONAPWD would like to advise the public against the infringement, abuse or misuse of its name and logo and in any formal/informal medium or form.
“The name JONAPWD and its logo are a registered trademark of the association under the companies and allied matters act of 1991.
“As such, any usage of this trademark by members of the public requires a written and signed consent by the national president through the national secretariat which is headed by the executive director.
“JONAPWD reserves its right to take actions against such infringement and misuse of its name and logo. Any entity infringing, abusing or misusing.
JONAPWD’s name and logo in any medium or form is hereby advised to stop doing it immediately,” it stated.
The association also advised all duty bearers and right holders (private, public and development partners) against subscribing to interventions initiated by any legal or illegal entity that claims it has been authorized or licensed by JONAPWD to embark on any project or programme.
It said that such alignments escalate associated risks militating against projected outcomes, and its long-term positive impacts on the disabled persons.
The association disclosed in the statement that it is aware of the maligning narratives going round which are constantly magnified to reinforce the “keep them poor” ideologies.
According to it, being the unified body positioned to advance strategic relevance of umbrella federations of persons with disabilities across the numerous disability types, it is expectedly inevitable to run up against perspectives that contradict one another.
It said that as a unified association, it had grown and learnt from antecedence, and had enshrined the association with progressive resolution strategies which are deemed most appropriate to different situations irrespective of the personalities involved.
It added that its review of past organizational practices had informed better strategy choices vis-à-vis with future occurrences, adding that, conflict doesn’t define the organisation better.
It said that the current structural efforts put in place by the association are only geared to increase dialogue among groups and to share information.
The association said that it is determined to sustain effective intergroup actions directed at conflict prevention and reduction, and that its ongoing approaches are to establish goals that will achieve expected result for persons with disabilities.
It stated that JONAPWD’s frameworks are currently being considered for necessary realignments in order to advance towards targeted mandates.
The association said that it had aligned with typical organizational systems in order to drive the actualization of strategic mission and mandate as the umbrella organization of persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
It said that as the federation of the persons with disabilities across the 774 local government areas, it is realigning towards strengthening the capacities of key stakeholders to largely coordinate and advance needed advocacy.
The association said that it had equally designed approaches to improve limited actions on strategic direction, especially to coordinate grassroots movement and demand socio-political compliance from duty bearers across the 36 states.
It added that all the actions were in relations to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
According to it, JONAPWD is currently projecting to embark on several sector-based interventions, and consequently seeks to build authentic partnerships to genuinely advance the lives of persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
It stated that the mission of JONAPWD is to always demand, on behalf of persons with disabilities, to break down the stigma and discrimination against persons with disabilities.
“By being an independent, non-political and civic organization, we remain resolute at ensuring accountable and inclusive internal democratic process, which would provide equal opportunities to empower men and women with disabilities to serve in leadership roles.
“In this vein, we expect that all stakeholders’ contributions to the JONAPWD system remain within collaborative categories, which must not interfere in the process of selection of JONAPWD representation or in any other form of activity by the association.
“While we recognize the importance of collaboration and its promotions, we are similarly deliberate in ensuring appropriate and transparent measures in this regard,” the association said. (NAN)
