By Jibrin Hussaini Kundum, Bauchi
About 500 people with special needs in twelve local government areas of Bauchi State have benefited from the relief materials distributed by the North East Development Commission (NEDC).
The distribution aimed to assist and improve the lives of persons with disabilities who were affected by flood disaster in the selected LGAs of the state.
Speaking during the distributions exercise at the agency’s headquarters, the Executive Secretary of Bauchi State Agency for Persons with Disabilities, Brisca Jarom Aaron, said the gesture was part of the commitment of Governor Bala Muhammad Abdulkadir’s administration to improve and change the live status of people with special needs across the state.
She observed that the Bauchi State Agency for Persons with Disabilities, in collaboration with the NEDC, had considered and experienced the conditions of flood victims in the state, particularly persons with disabilities who were left behind in terms of social welfare and humanitarian gestures, hence the need for them to come up with the initiative.
According to her, “NEDC has allocated five hundred cartoons of spaghetti, five hundred bags of rice, 200 rapper materials, fifty cartoons of grandoute oil, 50 bags of sugar, among others.
Brisca Jarom AAron said after consultation with her Management, persons with disabilities stakeholders, Joint Associations of various clusters, they decided to include the remaining eight LGAs towards extending the distributions of relief materials to persons with disabilities who were also affected by flood disaster.
In his speech, the Bauchi State Head of Civil Service, Barrister Muhammad Sani Umar, appreciated the effort of NEDC for their dedications and humanitarian services towards reshaping the future of persons with disabilities in the state.
He also charged the beneficiaries to utilise the items judiciously and emphasized the need for parents and people with special needs to enroll their children in schools to acquire both western and Islamic knowledge.
He called on them to contribute their wisdoms in addressing the issues of street begging, out-of-school children, and street hawking.