Wife of the Bayelsa State Governor, Mrs. Alayingi Sylva has charged corporate organisations doing business in the state to partner with government in the task of making life more meaningful for people living with disabilities. Mrs. Sylva gave the charge at the Peace Park in Yenagoa while speaking at the launching of the third phase of the MTN Foundation Disability Support Project, where mobility aids and other appliances were donated to people living with disabilities in the state. Mrs. Sylva, who noted that the task of making life more enjoyable and productive for the less-privileged cannot be left to government alone, said well-meaning citizens and corporate organisations must see it as their duty to give succour to this special class of people.
Wife of the Governor said it was sad to note that majority of the more than 26 million Nigerians living with one form of physical disability or the other, have no access to support facilities that will enable them conduct their day-to-day activities. She said without support facilities the physically challenged will continue to depend on family members and friends without the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives using their strengths and talents, adding that it was for this reason that she was commending MTN for this initiative.
As Mrs. Alayingi was commending MTN for their good gesture in providing mobility aids and other appliances for the physically challenged, she also called on the mobile telecommunications company to also partner with her NGO, Centre for GenderValues and Culture in the area of eradicating cancer in the state. Wife of the Governor challenged the beneficiaries to put the mobility aids and appliances into good use and be less dependent on other people and also strive to become more productive to themselves and the state at large.
In her address of welcome,the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Persons Living withDisabilities, Miss Ziriki Timiepiri lauded MTN for the initiative, adding that suchgestures go a long way in giving people living with disabilities a sense of belonging. She said the present administration has a caring heart which was what informed the Governor’s decision to create the office of the Senior Special Assistant on People Living with Disabilities to co-ordinate the activities of the physically-challenged persons in the state and also to articulate their needs for government’sattention. She said the beneficiaries were painstakingly selected to ensure that those who actually need the mobility aids and appliances were those who got them. Also speaking at the occasion, the Portfolio Manager of MTN Foundation, Foyinsola Oyebola said the guiding principle behind the MTN Foundation Disability Support Project was thecompany’s belief that empowering the physically-challenged will not only give them a sense of belonging but enable them engage in meaningful income-generating activities, thus contributing to the socio-economic development of the country. Oyebola, who noted that the company has distributed over 10,000 mobility aids and appliances since 2009,said the first phase of the disability support project covered 11 states, the second phase covered 12 states while the third phase which was being launched in Bayelsa was to cover the remaining 13states of the country.
Noting that her company was committed to making a positive impact in the society, Oyebola said MTN has invested in the training of personnel to maintain the appliances so that they will continue to be of use to the beneficiaries for a long time to come. The Bayelsa State Field Officer of Independent Living Programme for People Living with Disabilities, Miss Ifiemi Emberu, in her remarks lauded MTN for the initiative and urged the beneficiaries to utilise the aids to improve themselves. Miss Emberu, who lauded thestate government for its logistic support in the course of the preliminary workleading to the distribution of the mobility aids and appliances, said Bayelsa,where the third phase of the MTN Foundation disability support project was being launched, was the 24th state they were visiting.
Highlight of the occasion was the distribution of the mobility aids and appliances to thephysically-challenged by the Wife of the Governor, assisted by Wife of the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Iyorozitei Seibarugu, Wife of the Speaker, Mrs. Martha Binabo, Wife of the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Augusta Ekeuwei and the Head of Service of the state, Mrs Gloria Izonfuo. The mobility aids andappliances distributed include wheelchairs, tricycles, Braille machines, Braille wristwatches, armpit and elbow crutches, collapsible walking sticks,guide canes and hearing aids, while a total of 450 persons benefited. The items were donated by MTN,working in conjunction with the state government and the Independent Living Programme for People Living with Disabilities.
Mrs. Wonifere O. Richard-Igiri,
Press Secretary to the Wife of the Governor
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