The Lagos State government has again extended financial gestures to some special homes and disability cluster groups in the state.
This time, the state through the Office For Disability Affairs, LASODA, gave out 500,000 Naira each to nine homes and six cluster groups, an initiative which comes a month after the Agency provided financial support of 100,000 Naira each to 100 persons with disabilities.
Speaking at the agency’s office at the state Secretariat Alausa, the General Manager of LASODA, Mrs Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal said that “the essence of the initiative is to empower caregivers and support them towards meeting the needs of children and individuals with disabilities under their care.”
Oyetunde-Lawal mentioned that the gesture is also part of the state government’s commitment to improving the quality of life for persons with disabilities, thereby ensuring that caregivers and support groups are adequately equipped to provide essential services.
She maintained that the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is passionate about the needs of the persons with disabilities PWDs in the state and will continue to intensify efforts across the board to ensure no one is left behind.
Lots to do
Oyetunde-Lawal said; “We are here to ensure that we create an environment where we can all thrive, because we cannot provide the entire financial support that you need, but this is just but a token especially for the concerns.
“In the next few weeks we are going to be doing something for the elders in disabilities that is above sixty years of age, as well as civil servants with disabilities, we are also going to do for PWDs that have business concerns and have never registered their businesses, we will take them through financial literacy, taxation and register their businesses for them and give them their CAC certificates, so that when there is opportunity for grants, we can quickly identified the registered ones.”
She urged the groups to get their CAC certificates in order and ensure they all enjoy the benefits of the platform, stressing “the need for them to have their presence on social media in order to further connect to the prospective stakeholders that are willing to assist.”
Several interventions
Going forward, LASODA Boss said that the Agency has other interventions that are being worked on to provide physical and mental support for the children and individuals with disabilities in the state.
She said “For the first time, we will be having an interactive quiz with special quiz education teachers in Lagos.
We are also working on our Ability Games, and this time, we working with experts, there is another young man trying to train our children how to swim, so we are developing a swimming pool in Surulere, because we know that swimming has a huge impact on our special needs children.
“We are also working on something for deaf, we are trying to get our children on neurological check up, so that we can know their specific needs and not just give them hearing aids they don’t need, on this we are liaising with some schools in Lagos and deaf clusters have sent their children so that we can provide it and also stay with them for few years, because sometimes the servicing of the hearing aids are wnat make them dumped it, so, we are also trying to provide pocket-friendly ones so even you have any issues, the parents can be able to afford the servicing.”
She however urged the groups to be formidable and have a common front to enable them explore both local and international opportunities that will improve their services at their respective communities.
Commending initiatives
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, the Chairman Physical Clusters, Mr. Rotimi Adeniyi applauded the state government for its commitment over the years to making life better for persons with disabilities in the state through various initiatives, while calling for more assistance, particularly medical support for the groups.
The beneficiaries include Gilead initiatives for PWDs, Victoria intellectual disability, Resource centre for the blind, Lupus remedies Global Support Foundations, Joint National Association of Person with Disability, Nigeria Associations of the Blind and Dwarf among others.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
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