The Special Adviser (SA) to President Muhammadu Buhari on Disability, Dr Samuel Ankeli, says 25 million Nigerians are living with disabilities.
\nAnkeli made the disclosure yesterday in Ilorin while addressing physically challenged students of the University of Ilorin during the launch of the maiden edition of a programme titled \u201cAbility in Disability\u201d, organised by the students.
\nThe presidential aide pledged to assist the university in securing hostel accommodation and special centres for its physically challenged students.
\nIn a speech considered by many as \u201cmotivational\u201d, Ankeli, who is also physically impaired, said the president was working hard to ensure that the rights of physically challenged persons were protected.
\nHe said the president was keen on the Disability Act which, he said, would ensure justice and equality for those living with disabilities in the country.
\nAccording to him, it is the desire of the president that those living with disabilities are represented and are part of the social and political administration.
\nHe said all people were born equal and urged the students to harness their abilities despite the challenges.
\nAnkeli also urged Nigerians to support those with disabilities rather than sympathising with them.
\nHe tasked them on hard work, saying it will bring the best out of them.
\nThe aide harped on the imperative of having an adviser to the Kwara Government on disability for effective handling of such matters.
\nEarlier in his welcoming address, Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, disclosed that the university was striving to ensure facilities were more friendly to special students.
\nAbdulkareem, who was represented by Prof. Olayinka Buhari, the deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation, explained that the university\u2019s management ensured that its Law special students were made comfortable.
\nHe appealed to government at all tiers to ensure job availability for the students after their education.
\nDr Patricia Atejere, the Acting Director, Centre for Supportive Services for the Deaf (CSSD) of the university, decried the general lack of adequate understanding of disability.
\nShe regretted that those with disability were discriminated against on the basis of stereotypes. \u201cWe must systematically deconstruct the mindset of sympathy towards persons living with disabilities.
\n\u201cSympathy isolates persons with disabilities socially; it affects their access to education, employment and hinders their self-fulfilment,\u201d she said.
\nShe disclosed that since inception, the centre has graduated 65 hearing impaired students from different departments of the university.
\nMr Wisdom Oluwaseun, the President of Student Union Government (SUG), urged students living with disabilities not to despair but \u201cuse the ability in their disability\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Special Adviser (SA) to President Muhammadu Buhari on Disability, Dr Samuel Ankeli, says 25 million Nigerians are living with disabilities. Ankeli made the disclosure yesterday in Ilorin while addressing physically challenged students of the University of Ilorin during the launch of the maiden edition of a programme titled \u201cAbility in Disability\u201d, organised by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=226791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=226791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=226791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=226791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}