As part of the efforts towards improving the lives of people living with disabilities (PLWD), the Ekiti State Government has donated cash gifts to 15 beneficiaries in the state to make them to be self-reliant.
Presenting the cash gift to the beneficiaries, the State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Alhaja Maryam Ogunlade stated that the financial empowerment was to guarantee proper resettlement of the beneficiaries who recently graduated from the Nigeria Farmcraft Centre for the Blind in Lagos.
Speaking further, Alhaja Ogunlade highlighted the importance of training and resettlement grants for PLWD to include empowering them for sustainability, raising their standard of living, significant reduction in street-begging and immerse contribution to socio-economic development of the state.
She stated that 47 (forty-seven) PLWD have so far been rehabilitated by the Dr. Kayode Fayemi led-government via training and rehabilitation project, adding that the beneficiaries now live in relative comfort devoid of begging.
Ogunlade, however, reaffirmed that the state government would continue to make the welfare of the physically challenged a priority and would not be deterred by the prevailing global economic downturn and the attendant paucity of funds in the state.
She further advised the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the largess, stressing the need to invest the money sensibly in their own interest.
In her own remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Ekiti State Office of the Disabilities Affairs, Mrs. Olabisi Fatoba stated that people interested in learning vocation no longer have to travel to Lagos since the state government has established a well-equipped Women and Youth Acquisition Centre for Persons with Disability located at Ilokun in Ado Ekiti.
Mrs. Fatoba further stressed that her office would leave no stone unturned at ensuring the general wellbeing of people with disabilities in the state as mandated by the state government.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr. Oladapo Sowande who expressed gratitude to Governor Kayode Fayemi for efforts to make their lives better, pledged to judiciously utilize the money while also praying for the continued success of the administration.
Packaged By Emmanuel Adeniran
