Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has approved the appointment of a four-man governing board for Ekiti State Agency for Persons Living With Disabilities (PLWDs).
The appointment letters signed by Secretary to the State Government, Biodun Oyebanji, stated effective date as July 12.
The board has Akin Obanise, a physically challenged person as Chairman.
Mr Oyebanji congratulated the board members and charged them to justify the confidence reposed in them by government.
Accepting the offer on behalf of other board members, Mr Obanise said on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti that Governor Fayemi is arguably the most physically challenged-friendly governor in the country.
He itemised the achievements of the governor for the PLWDs to include the signing of the Disability Bill into law, the establishment of the State Office of Disability Affairs and the appointment of Senior Special Assistant on Disability Matters.
He also lauded the governor for assuring that 5 per cent of opportunities in the state would go to PLWDs.
In his remarks, Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Disability Matters, Tunde Ogunrinde, praised Mr Fayemi for appointing a governing board for Ekiti State Agency for Persons with Disabilities.
He thanked the governor for making good his promise to constitute a governing board for the Office on Disability Affairs.
Mr Ogunrinde remarked that in the whole of south-west Nigeria, only Lagos State came close to what the Ekiti State government had achieved in the Disability Community within the space of two years.
“Osun, Ogun, and Ondo states do not even have a disability agency, not to talk of a PLWD representative in their governments,’’ he said.
Mr Ogunrinde went on to urge persons living with disabilities to be patient with the government as all their problems would be addressed through the newly constituted governing board.
Other members of the board are Adetuase Emmanuel (vision impairment), Ogunbiyi Azeez (albinism) and Bukola Fakunle (auditory impairment).
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