LASG solicits more support for children with disability, celebrate mothers

• Parents seek policies for all inclusiveness in education, health
As part of Lagos State’s all inclusive policy, the governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has lauded mothers with children living with disabilities for their devoted time and support in catering for them.

He said nurturing children with disability is a strenuous job that deprives the entire family of their happiness and time.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, there are about seven million children in Nigeria living with disability. Further estimates believes Lagos state has conservatively about one million people living with disabilities.

The Lagos state government, through the office of the Special Adviser to the governor on Social Development organised a one-day picnic at the Elegushi beach, Lekki, for mothers of children living with disabilities in the state, to encourage and support their efforts to successfully manage their children to attain maximum potentials in life.

Speaking at the day of respite for the mothers during the weekend, the Special Adviser on Social Development, Lagos State, Joyce Onafowokan said the state government recognises the plight of the mothers, who devote all their time and resources to take care of their children with disability, which was why the day was set aside to relieve them of the stress and challenges they go through.

“We are here to celebrate the parents of children living with disabilities and to give them a day of respite, give them time to chill out and relax because there is so much that goes into parenting of children with disabilities and the governor said we should have a time, spend with these parents and assure them that he is with them and that we have their hands on the journey,” she said.

She said Lagos is an all inclusive state that believes in equality, adding that as part of the governor’s plan to ensure fairness among all citizens regardless of any barrier, it has begun the process of building an early intervention centre that would begin to identify and treat disabilities as early as possible.

As part of the activities held for the mothers, each of them went home with prizes as well as 10kg of lake rice and a gallon of vegetable oil to appreciate them.

On his part, the Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Agboola Dabiri lauded the mothers for their relentless efforts in taking care of their children with disabilities, just as he appealed to fathers to show support to their wives as it is a joint responsibility of both parents.

“Parents with children with disabilities should not feel ashamed about it, they are God’s gift to man and we need to accept our children the way they are and love them equally because children are the same,” he said.

Commending the programme, the mothers express delight, just as they lamented on the challenges they face, which include deprivation of basic opportunities, such as access to education, healthcare and mobility.

They, however, urged the government to enact policies that would address all the challenges and enable their children have all the rights to education and healthcare among other needs.