In a groundbreaking move, Barrister Ayodele Adekanbi, the Director-general of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, announced a transformative initiative approved by His Excellency, Governor Makinde.
The empowerment was aimed at empowering individuals with disabilities on the 2023 International Day for Persons With Disability.
“We received quite a number of financial request. People have reached out to His Excellency for empowerment, and he has approved that we should empower people with disabilities in celebration of 2023 International Day for Persons With Disability,” shared Adekanbi.
“Rather than whinning and dining this year, we came up with a very good initiative through this agency, that we should empower our people with different kinds of working tools to get them off the road.
So, we are doing this for our people who are not educated and jobless.”
Adekanbi revealed that beneficiaries will receive various working tools, including grinding machines, freezers, sewing machines, generators, and cash to facilitate the use of these items.
He said: “In selecting the beneficiaries, we received a lot of letters since the inception of this first term administration.
“Bulk of letters on empowerment request and we picked out of them. We got from some cluster groups, but the majority of these beneficiaries are from our own list – those that have written to the governor for empowerment.
“And I want to say it is an ongoing thing. Some of them who have written to us should be expecting to be called because we want to carry everyone along. We will put a call through to the next batch when we are ready for them.”
In his remarks, the Executive Assistant to the Governor on Persons With Disabilities, Hon Timothy Olufemi Sunday praised the initiative as one of Governor Makinde’s laudable projects for the Persons with disabilities.
“What is being done today is what we can refer to as one of the laudable projects of Governor Seyi Makinde for persons with disabilities.
“And we thank God for giving us a good leader like Barrister Ayodele Adekanmbi, who just showed capacity and is leading us very well by organizing programs like this to empower PWDs.”
He urged beneficiaries to make judicious use of the resources provided and to continue supporting Governor Makinde’s government, emphasizing that they should also continue to support the government of Governor Makinde because no governor in this state has rendered support like this to the PWDs.”
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke at the event commended Governor Seyi Makinde for creating an agency that will prioritize their welfare.
They lauded the Director-General for his humanitarian service especially towards ameliorating the plights of persons with disabilities in Oyo State.
Looking ahead, Barrister Adekanmbi outlined the agency’s plans, including stakeholders’ meeting which hold within the first quarter of next year, which include renovation of Special Homes, hostels and purchase of assistive devices and provision of braille of textbooks among others.
This initiative marks a significant milestone in Governor Makinde’s commitment to improving the lives of persons with disabilities, setting a precedent for inclusive governance and support for marginalized communities in the state.
