The Centre for Infrastructural and Technological Advancement for the Blind (CITAB) has commended the Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) over its recent employment of 20 disabled persons for street cleaning across the state.
CITAB in a statement by the Executive Chairman, Jolomi Fenemigho, made encomiums on LAWMA for taking a step in the right direction by adding 20 physically challenged persons in the state to their pay-roll, thereby, giving hope to the beneficiaries, taking them out of begging practice and reducing the number of disabled unemployed persons in Lagos.
Fenemigho noted that, “Inclusivity is key to the development of any growing nation and what LAWMA has portrayed, indicates the agency’s readiness to aid and support the welfare of disabled persons in the society.”
The CITAB boss lamented the high number of abandoned disabled persons in Lagos State adding that many of them had resorted to begging along the streets while little or nothing was done to alleviate their plight until LAWMA intervened.
He further stated that before this set of physically challenged persons were gainfully employed; most of them were already sweeping and cleaning their surroundings, adding that this showed how dedicated they were to a task. The CITAB boss urged other Lagos state parastatals to follow in the foot-steps of LAWMA.
The CITAB boss further recommended the need for each of the newly employed physically challenged persons to under-go psychological evaluation and motivational enlightenment programmes in order to expose them to part-time academic opportunities.
“The act of begging is an addiction; the deeper you are into it, the harder it is to let go. Without motivational, enlightenment and academic programmes to make them believe in themselves many disabled persons will revert to their old ways,” he said.
Fenemigho also lauded the Kwara State Government’s recent donation of audio books to the visually impaired students of the state’s Special Needs School, describing the move as commendable.