Ebonyi Government says plans are ongoing to upgrade the state’s Rehabilitation Centre to strengthen skills accusation for people with disabilities.
Gov. David Umahi said this on Friday in Abakaliki during an event to mark the 2021 International Day of Persons with Disabilities with the theme “Leadership and Participation of Persons with Disabilities Toward An Inclusive, Accessible And Sustainable Post COVID-19”.
Umahi, who was represented by his Principal Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Obasi, said the state government was committed to the welfare of people living with disabilities.
He said that he would not relent at ensuring that the Disability Bill currently at the state’s House of Assembly was passed into law.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Umahi had since 2015 deployed no fewer than 87 Physically Challenged Persons, who are placed under monthly stipends.
Mrs Deborah Okah, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, said the state government had empowered 58 people with disabilities who graduated from its Rehabilitation Centre.
On the rehabilitation centre, Okah said it has the mandate to deploy life basic skills to Persons with Disabilities across the state in Bakery, Computer education, among others.
Others are: Tailoring, Wood work (carpentry), Bead making, shoe making and Hair Dressing.
The commissioner said “being disabled is not a negation but a condition that creates an inner energy for these people to live and be economically viable to the society and their families.
“We must create a conducive clime for them to realise their physical and mental dispositions.”
Mr Chieme Odumegwu, the state Chairman, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabled (JONAPWD), thanked the state governor for supporting people with disabilities.
Odumegwu said JONAPWD members would continue to support any policy aimed at sustainable development in the state, especially for the disabled. (NAN)
