By IGHO OYOYO
As part of activities to mark the Sallah celebrations, the minister of State for FCT, Ramatu Aliyu, has distributed food items and clothes to persons living with disabilities in the territory.
The minister while distributing the items at Old Parade Ground in Abuja yesterday, reaffirmed the commitment of the FCT administration to empower persons living with disabilities and ensure that they are not only self-reliant, but employers of labour.
In a statement signed by Austine Elemue, Special Adviser, Media to the minister, Aliyu also revealed that the administration has commenced profiling of persons living with disabilities and training on various skills acquisition programmes in line with one of the core mandates of the Social Development Secretariat.
“As you can see, we are here with persons living with disabilities in the Federal Capital Territory. In the spirit of Sallah celebrations, we are here to reach out to the less privileged in the society.
“We are profiling all of them to ensure that we capture them and at the same time prepare them for empowerment.
They are being trained on soap making, cream making, beads, shoes, bags, to ensure that they earn a living by themselves and by extension become employers of labour, not only will they become gainfully employed but they will be self-employed.
“When this happens they will be off the streets, we want to take them off the streets systematically by engaging them, by making them appreciate themselves and realizing the value within them. We have discovered graduates among them, some are certificate holders,” she said.
The minister further assured that upon graduation, the administration would secure a market and the enabling environment to market their goods to the benefiting communities.
In her response, the chairperson, Network of Disabled Women, Mrs. Lois Auta-Udokanta, thanked the minister for using the occasion to cushion the effect of post COVID-19 in the lives of persons with disabilities.