Govt provides financial aid to PWD caregivers

The Lagos State Government on Wednesday provided financial aid to some special homes and disability cluster groups in the state.

The state, through the Office for Disability Affairs, gave N500,000 each to nine homes and six cluster groups.

The initiative comes a month after the agency provided financial support of N100,000 each to 100 persons with disabilities.

Speaking at the agency’s office at Alausa Secretariat, the General Manager of LASODA, Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal, said the essence of the initiative was to empower caregivers and support them towards meeting the needs of children and individuals with disabilities under their care.

Oyetunde mentioned that the gesture was 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 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 a token, especially for the concerned.

“In the next few weeks, we are going to be doing something for the elders with disabilities that are above 60 years, 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 an opportunity for grants, we can quickly identify the registered ones.”

The LASODA boss added that the agency had other interventions that were being worked on to provide physical and mental support for 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 are 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 the deaf. We are trying to get our children on neurological check-ups so that we can know their specific needs and not just give them hearing aids they don’t need.”

Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, the Chairman of Physical Clusters, 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, and Resource Centre for the Blind, among others.

In May, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons With Disabilities, James Lalu, disclosed that the agency was working with the Bank of Industry to provide low-interest credit facilities to persons living with disabilities.

Lalu made the statement at the launch of the Strengthening Access to Business Education and Inclusion-Woman project in Lagos.

The Executive Secretary said this would improve the livelihood of people living with disabilities, who usually found it difficult to access funding.