The Communication Officer of the Kaduna State Chapter of APPEALS, Muhammad Bashir, who said this in the state capital on Wednesday, after an interactive session with beneficiaries, noted that the session was to help the service providers in the state to guide the beneficiaries on the process.
The essence of the cash support according to APPEALS, was to enable the beneficiaries to be self-employed and empower them to establish agricultural related small-scale businesses. The officials of the project also said they were determined to utilise the funds well.
Two of the representatives of persons with disabilities and also beneficiaries of the programme, Haruna Abubakar and Rukayya Aliyu, pledged to utilise what they have learned for the development of the agricultural sector.
They also commended the Kaduna State Governor Nasir Elrufai and his administration for supporting persons with disabilities to become self dependent in the state.
The persons with special needs were trained on business development services and were also assisted with registration of their businesses with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Meanwhile, the Coordinator of APPEALS, Dr. Yahaya Aminu, explained that the 100 persons with disabilities were part of the 1700 beneficiaries being supported under the women and youth APPEALS project.
“It is line with the social inclusion and social safe guard policy of Kaduna State Government to support them,” he said.
Also, the Deputy Director of Kaduna State Disability Board Affairs, Hassan Suleiman, said that the cash support will enable the PWDs to participate in agricultural businesses and would go a long way to make them stand on their own.
“Developing mental and physical capacity of PWDs would take them off the streets and make them among the employers of labour.
“I assur that the beneficiaries would fully utilise what they have learned during the training to improve their income, to get acceptance in the society and also be equal with anyone in their communities,” he added.
