General News
The Becky’s Foundation, an Ilorin-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has pledged to build a 50-bed space hostel for the intellectually-impaired pupils of the Kwara State School for Special Needs.
Miss Rebecca Adimula, the Founder of the Foundation, made the pledge in her address at a round-table discussion on “Mainstream Disabilities Law: The Roles of Critical Stakeholders’’, on Friday in Ilorin.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the discussion programme was organised by the Foundation in collaboration with the Kwara Chapter of the National Association of Persons with Disabilities and the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.
The Founder, a 16 year-old Law student of the University of Ilorin, said the meeting was convened to canvass for the support of critical stakeholders in Kwara.
Adimula said this was to ensure that the rights of the Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) as contained in the state law were implemented.
She applauded the immediate past administration in the state for enacting the Disability Law in 2017.
She said the Foundation would ensure the public became aware and knowledgeable about the law through advocacy and sensitisation programme.
“This gathering is deliberate and the choice of participants was carefully made to ensure that the aim of this historic meeting is achieved.
“Deliberately, we have invited to this meeting, the heads of the three arms of government in Kwara State and Permanent Secretaries in charge of the administration of relevant government ministries and the vice-chancellors of all the five universities in the state, among other stakeholders.
“This is to enable us discuss how the protection of the rights of physically challenged persons can be given effect and be put into plans and budgets in Kwara.
“I am happy to say that Kwara is one of the few states that have passed the Disabilities Law. This was a bold step taken by the last administration in 2017 in accordance with the United Nations Convention,’’ Adimula said.
According to her, this same law was signed in Nigeria in January, 2019 and made provisions that five per cent of employees in the workforce will be people with disabilities.
Adimula noted that the law made provisions for right to education at all levels, right to health services, accessibility of public buildings to people with disabilities, among others.
The convener of the programme noted that the world could only be a better place if individuals lived to impact on others,
She said that the Foundation had touched the lives of the physically challenged persons in several ways among which she said were annual awards for best graduating students of state School of Special Needs since 2015 and educational scholarship to four visually-impaired people, among others.
Earlier in her speech, the Chairperson of the Planning Committee, Dr Biola Adimula, commended Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for his efforts at enhancing the standard of living of the physically challenged in the state.
The chairperson, who is Rebecca’s mother, said that the programme was organised to sensitise the participants on the law and highlight the roles of various stakeholders in the course of protecting the rights of the PWDs, among other things.
NAN reports that participants were drawn from relevant government agencies and institutions, civil society groups, various physically challenged groups, among others. (NAN)
JULY 26, 2019 15:10 GMT |
Tags: Foundation plans to build hostel for intellectually impaired pupils in Kwara
