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The Anambra State Government on Friday, empowered Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) with financial assistance to enhance their small-scale businesses.
The beneficiaries are members of the Association of Anambra State Women with Disabilities, a Division of the Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD), Anambra State branch.
They were empowered with forty thousand naira each (N40,000), through the State Ministry of Woman Affairs.
The Special Adviser to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Youth Development Programmes, Dr Nelson Obinna Omenugha, who spoke at the ceremony on behalf of the government, said the empowerment programme for PWDs was in fulfilment of Soludo’s electoral promise to make life worth living for PWDs and support them in realizing their dreams.
Omenugha, who was represented by Barrister Dubem Kervins, explained that the gesture was aimed at moving away from the charitable model of empowerment to a model that would make PWDs self-reliant and wealth creators.
According to him, the gesture would go a long way in enhancing the productivity of the women and also facilitate their contributions to the socio-economic development of Anambra State.
Omenugha maintained that in line with the social inclusion policy of the state government, the administration of Chukwuma Soludo would continue to ensure that the rights of PLWDs were protected and promoted through relevant policies and programmes.
“Beneficiaries of this gesture of the state government must imbibe the spirit of giving and contributing to society and see themselves as instruments of positive change,” the S.A counselled.
He urged other physically challenged bodies and individuals who were not captured to be calm and show understanding with the state government, adding that more beneficiaries would be captured in the future.
In her brief address, the Chairperson of the Association of Anambra State Women with Disabilities, Comrade Nwanokwara Ncheta, explain that the gesture, being the first phase, was meant for business members who suffer the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In their separate addresses, Mrs Ify Arounu-Okafor, the state coordinator of Gender Perspective and Social Development Centre Awka, Mrs Anekwe Eucharia Ijeoma and the State Chairman of JONAPWD, Comrade Ugochukwu Okeke, while noting that the gesture of the State Government has assisted in reducing the suffering the women are passing through at the moment, urged the beneficiaries to see the empowerment as an opportunity to break away from the shackle of poverty by making judicious use of the money provided for them.
One of the beneficiaries, Franc Okafor, while thanking the government for the assistance, said she would use the money to improve her poultry farm business in order to feed her family and assist other less privileged people around her.
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