IFEPED moves to overcome disability in Enugu
An association of disabled people thst operates under the aegis of 7’Initiative for eradicating of poverty and Empowerment og the disabled People(IFEPED) Enugu state chapter,has emphadised the pertinent needs of the association,geared towards letting their members to be able to cater for themselves and even contribute to national growth.
The chairmanof IFEPED,Enugu state chapter,Mr Ugwu Vjctor Clifford enumerated some of these pressing needs and ideas,st a one day xonal seminar organised for people with disability under Enugu East senatorial district held at Agbani headquarters of Naku West local government area,recently.
Ugwu lamented the psychological trsuma some of his colleagues undergo while interacting with some able bodied members of the public,stating the asdociation has devised strategies to curtail such isdues and totally keep beggars out of the streets of Enugu,if only the state government,multi national companies,Religious bodies etc, can respond to their requests and be of good help.
He said the asdociation is in dire need of skill acquidition centers to train snd help members torealize their inatetalents and destinies.Accorfing to him,the skill acquisition centers should be built in therr propsed secretariats in each ief the local government areasvof the state.
He narrated that there are thise of them who are intelligent to further their education,pleading for help from members spiritedvindividuals to come to the rescue. He mentioned that there is a case of a street beggar from Nassrawa state,Mr Angama,who was trained by IFEPED in the state to have graduated from College of Education Akwanga. He said there are similar intelligent beggars among them in Enugu,who are begging for such helps but none is yet to come their way.
He disclised that IPEFED Enugu state chapter has devised strategy to kerep beggars out if the strerts by engaging them with one form os skill acquisition or another,but waiting for support from the govsrnment,public spirited individuals and private sector suppirt before the strategy will take off.
Earlier in his lecture at the workshop,the redource person,Engr Beloved Dan Obinna Anike, expressed the pertinent need to accommodate the disabled people in every workplan ir budget for national development,stating that reseach proved that there are over 27 million people living with disabilities in Nigeria,which narrowed to the ratio of 1:10.
Acvorfing to him,Modern structures and technoligy in civlised countries are designed and structured to accommodate it’s use by the disabled and urged the Nigerian system to imbibe the culture.
He stressed that Supermarkets,Upstsirs,Motor cars are re strucured and designed for the use of disabled people. He encouraged the group to embsrk on advocacy visits to designated manufacturers to shape some of their profucts for the use of didabled people in Nigeria.
The chairman of Nkanu West local government area,Hon Nwabueze Nnamani, who hosted the workshop explained that his afministration has employed some of the disabled persons as computer analyst and secretaries. He disclosed that many of them also are learning from the ICT center he established and equpped within the premises of the local government council.
