Governments laud MTN Foundation disable persons project

MTN Foundation, the Corporate Social Investment vehicle of MTN Nigeria, has provided mobility aids and appliances for more than 1,000 people living with physical disabilities in Edo and Ogun States. The aids and appliances were distributed at two separate ceremonies in Benin and Abeokuta by the foundation as part of the second phase of its Disability Support Project (DSP).
At the Benin distribution ceremony, a total of 666 mobility aids and appliances consisting of 137 wheelchairs, 22 tricycles, 56 collapsible walking sticks, 73 guide canes that illuminate at night for the visually impaired, 12 Braille machines, 44 Braille wristwatches, 250 hearing aids and 72 crutches were handed out to beneficiaries. In Abeokuta, 450 aids and appliances were distributed to the physically challenged drawn from various parts of Ogun State.
The facilities, according to the MTN Foundation, are part of the total 5,000 mobility aids and appliances the Foundation plans to distribute to the physically challenged members of the society in the second phase of the project.
Executive Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, represented by his Special Adviser on Commerce and Industry, Sir Osato Ize-Iyamu, who officially presented some of the facilities to beneficiaries in Benin, commended the MTN Foundation for taking up the challenge of improving the quality of life of the beneficiaries through provision of the appliances.
“The physically challenged are often easily overlooked in our society. It is worthy of commendation that a corporate body is not only thinking about how to make life better for this special category of our citizens, but is actually taking concrete steps to improve their quality of life,” said Sir Ize -Iyamu.
At the Abeokuta ceremony, the wife of the Executive Governor of Ogun State, Yeye Olufunke Daniel, represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs. Tomi Soboyejo, said an unconfirmed statistics estimated that 25 million Nigerians and about 2.5 percent of Ogun population live with one form of disability or the other. She commended MTN for joining the state government in its efforts to make life better for the less privileged citizens of the state.
Mrs. Foluke Idowu, the Founder of Independent Living Programme for People with Disabilities (ILP) who herself is physically challenged, in her remarks at the two ceremonies, commended the MTN Foundation for partnering with ILP and funding the entire project, which according to her would promote beneficiaries from being dependent to becoming wealth creators. She urged people with disabilities not to succumb to the temptation to milk their situations negatively by begging for alms.
Dr. Wingle Essumai, Director of the MTN Foundation who was in Benin stated that the Foundation recognises how difficult life can be for people living with disabilities in a country like Nigeria. He said the Disability Support Project is aimed at ameliorating some of the difficulties confronting these special people in their daily activities.
“We will continue to seek more ways of positively impacting the lives of our people across the country,” he added.
The MTNF Disability Support Project, which is in its second phase, will empower 5,000 beneficiaries in 12 states with mobility aids and appliances. Phase One of the project benefited 5,000 people in 11 states including the Federal Capital Territory. More are expected to benefit from the project in its subsequent phases.