FG to empower 50,000 persons with disabilities

He said beneficiaries would be drawn from the 744 local government areas with the majority to be selected in the rural areas.

The federal government says 50,000 Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) will benefit from its conditional cash transfer to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Executive Secretary, National Commission of Persons with Disability, James Lalu, at a press conference in Abuja weekend, said data collection for beneficiaries would commence today.

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Decrying what he called years of neglect of PWDs in the country, Lalu noted that the intervention was among other programmes by the federal government to ease the plight of the disability community.

He said beneficiaries would be drawn from the 744 local government areas with the majority to be selected in the rural areas.

“The data collection will start from Monday with officials going round the 36 states of the federation to collect necessary information. Those who may not have a bank account are encouraged to open a bank account because the information on bank account will be received too.”

He appealed to state governments to use their established structures to help ease the task by providing information on those in dire need of the intervention.

He said the money was a start-up capital to empower the beneficiaries, urging them to utilise it for proper investment.

He said the commission was making efforts towards ensuring that five per cent of staff in the public sector were PWDs as “consultation is ongoing with relevant stakeholders.”