Towards achieving the national objective for poverty reduction and national development, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has commenced capacity building training workshop on income generating activities for Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in Oyo state.
According to a statement Thursday by the Principal Information Officer of the ministry, Grace Osuji, represented at the event by the Director, Special Needs Department, Mrs. Nkechi Onwukwe, the Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq, said the present administration’s goal of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2029 cannot be achieved without full involvement of PWDs.
She said: “The training is to enable PWDs in exploring greater possibilities in our collective quest to combat the challenges confronting the advancements of Persons With Disabilities for a sustainable development.
“This government is mindful of the importance of disability as a development issue. The commitment to addressing some of these challenges and timely response to other humanitarian issues informed the creation of the Ministry of and ensuring that PWDs are equipped and empowered for an all inclusive national development.
“As a Ministry with the requisite mandate of developing polices and providing effective coordination of humanitarian interventions and strengthening social systems in Nigeria, I understand that livelihood interventions are critical to addressing economic challenges among PWDs and therefore the present administration’s goal of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2029 cannot be achieved without full involvement of PWDs.
“The Ministry commenced the processes of repositioning the Nigeria Farmcraft Centre for the blind in Lagos, to be in tune with current realities in the areas of entrepreneurial and empowerment angles of trainees.
“The Ministry also conducted a specialised professional training -of- the trainers for selected staff of the department, management staff of 6 Braille centres and Farmcraft Centre for the blind Lagos, in order to build their capacities for efficient discharge of their mandates as social workers.”
Also speaking, the representative of the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion in Oyo State, M.O Akande, Director, Rehabilitation, said the economic hardship bedevilling Nigerians were doubly manifested in the lives of PWDS across the nation, hence the need for all critical stakeholders to come up with profound and pragmatic measures to lift vulnerable groups of people out of their current economic hardship.
He added that Oyo State, in collaboration with other critical MDAs in the state, has made conscious effort to lift PWDs out of poverty and economic stagnation, starting with the facilitation of employment opportunities for PWDS within and outside the state civil service.
The consultant and facilitator, Mr. Kolawole Taiwo of Rockbel Professional Services, said that, at the end of the training, participants will be monitored and have access to financial empowerment.
