The Federal Government has dedicated 10 per cent of its various social interventions to persons with disabilities (PwDs).

This disclosure was made by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, in Abuja while inaugurating various empowerment programmes sponsored by the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities.

She added that President Bola Tinubu directed that the disability community should be given priority in all intervention programmes of the government.

”Mr President has instructed that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation should dedicate 10 per cent of humanitarian and poverty alleviation interventions to persons with disabilities. Today is the flag-off of the empowerment of people living with disabilities.

“Already, we are into conditional cash transfers to 15 million households; out of this figure, 10 per cent is reserved for the disability community. So, we are happy and proud of the disability commission for pushing on all fronts to ensure that the Renewed Hope Agenda is actually achieved.

”We are providing POS machines to persons with disabilities across Nigeria so that they can be the last mile distributors of the funds to people living in villages and hard-to-reach areas,” she said.

The minister also announced the donation of N100,000 to each beneficiary of the POS machines to help them kick-start their businesses.

”We have also provided not just the POS machines, but also N100,000 capital for them. We also gave N130,000 each, as scholarship to some physically challenged students in tertiary institutions. Beyond this, we have also been able to bring officials of the Corporate Affairs Commission here to carry out proper registration of their businesses. About N20 million has been released for that purpose.

”Rather than beg, the PwDs will run businesses that will empower them, their society and everyone around them. We are having several other interventions like giving out grants to associations that deal with disabilities,” she said.

She further said that the Federal Government was committed to supporting the educational needs of Nigerians, including persons with disabilities.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the commission, Mr James Lalu, said that the gesture was aimed at empowering the disability community to become economically self-reliant.

In his contribution, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Disabilities, Mr Bashiru Dauda, assured Nigerians that his team would ensure effective legal framework to protect the rights of PwDs in Nigeria.

Also, representative from the Bank of Industry, Ruth Ofomo, said that the bank had provided a micro credit loan of N10 million to small scale business holders.

Mrs Ofomo said the loan should be accessed without any form of discrimination.

0n his part, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Disability matters, Abba Isa, said that there were about 31 million persons with disabilities in Nigeria.

Mr Isa challenged stakeholders to support efforts to include PwDs in governance and other social interventions.

The event featured presentation of scholarship awards to students living with disabilities.

(NAN)