Sir David Osunde Foundation (SDOF) has expressed its readiness to empower no fewer than 1,500 persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria during the Easter celebration.
Development Diaries reports that the non-governmental organisation (NGO) made this known at a news conference in Abuja ahead of its 31st Special Easter Monday celebration.
The NGO’s Local Organising Committee Chairman, Ikem Uchegbulam, said the support will be provided in form of skills acquisition programmes, scholarships and support materials like wheelchairs and crutches for PWDs.
Uchegbulam said that the aim of the initiative is to impact the PWDs spiritually, materially and meet their basic welfare.
The NGO also noted that the event will be held on Easter Monday at the Holy Family Society National Pilgrimage Centre at Gosa, Sabin-Lugbe, Abuja, at noon.
It clarified that it is not a Christian foundation as the celebration cuts across all religions, saying that 90 percent of the beneficiaries are Muslims.
Although there are various estimates about the exact number of PWDs in Nigeria, the World report on disability, published in 2011, revealed that about 25 million Nigerians had at least one disability, while 3.6 million of these had very significant difficulties in functioning.
Data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey revealed that an estimated seven percent of household members above the age of five experience some level of difficulty in at least one functional domain–seeing, hearing, communication, cognition, walking, or self-care.
Photo source: Inclusion Magazine
