The Society for the Welfare of the Blind (SWBN), with the support of SC Johnson, has equipped visually impaired students with study kits and walking aids.
 
The event was held at SC Johnson’s corporate headquarters in Isolo, Lagos, to mark this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
No fewer than 10 selected students from secondary and tertiary institutions across the country received the essential tools to aid their learning, including a computer, school bag, digital audio recorder and a guide cane.
 
SWBN founder, Emiola Ladipo Tade, said that the initiative was inspired by his personal experience, having lost his sight in 1990. He, however, recalled how the level of poverty at the Blind Centre in Oshodi years ago motivated him to establish SWBN, after discovering that most students there came from disadvantaged backgrounds and could barely afford essential educational tools.

Tade, while tracing the organisation’s 27-year journey, highlighted the pivotal support of multinationals in sustaining its mission. He said that they still have a long way to go, given the large number of visually impaired students who need support.

The founder encouraged the visually impaired students to make the most of the equipment and appreciated SC Johnson for its financial and moral support.  He also urged other multinationals to include assistance for people with disabilities as part of their corporate social responsibility, stressing that such initiatives offer significant benefits for all involved.
 
Maria Kazeem, a member of the SWBN, said the beneficiaries were selected from 10 different institutions across the country, saying that the selection process was very thorough and the beneficiaries were duly investigated and found to be doing well in their studies.