1st May, 2019
Participants in the two-week training for Persons Living With Disabilities (PLWD) in Abia have appealed to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to extend the skill acquisition programme to more physically-challenged persons in the state.
The people made the appeal in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia at the end of their training on Wednesday.
NAN reports that the training was organised by the commission in conjunction with Bonnadum Development Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.
They expressed profound gratitude to NDDC for giving them the opportunity to learn a skill that could make them financially independent and contribute their quota to the nation’s economic growth.
They however said that there were many people in the state with disabilities yearning for similar opportunity for skill acquisition.
They therefore appealed to NDDC to sustain the training in order to accommodate more physically-challenged people in Abia.
Mr Stanley Onyebuchi, the state Chairman, Joint National Association of PLWD in Abia, commended the commission for the kind gesture, saying that the training would help to empower the participants and make them self-reliant.
Onyebuchi, who is blind and trained in purse making, said that commission should do well to extend the training to other members of the association.
Mr Wisdom Okechukwu, the Public Relations Officer of the association, also blind, described the training as “a dream that has come true.”
He said that it was an opportunity many of them had long desired to have, saying that they would remain grateful to NDDC.