Project Enable Africa empowers persons with disabilities

…as 20 PWDs graduates in skills acquisition

A community development initiative, Project Enable Africa in collaboration with Sustainable Hospitality Alliance has empowered persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Lagos with skills acquisition, restating its commitment to taking them out of the labour market through skills acquisition.

Founder, of Project Enable Africa, Olusola Owonikoko, represented by The Executive Program Officer, Michael Ojediran said the initiative has leveraged the disability bill signed into law by President Muhammad Buhari about five years ago to train scores of PWDs, expose them to internships and secure decent employments for them in various sectors.

He further said the just concluded training was to groom and expose them to employment opportunities in the hospitality sector, noting that though the disability law was signed about five years ago, a lot still needs to be done to ensure employers include five per cent of PWDs in their workforce.

He said, ‘’When we talk about disability inclusion in Nigeria, what comes to mind is the Disability Bill which mandates every employer of labour to have five per cent of their workforce as Persons with Disabilities.

‘’This has brought a lot of improvement since 2019, and this is the gap that Project Enable Africa is trying to fill especially between the demand and supply of labour.

Head of Programme, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, Anjana Raza commended Project Enable for the collaborative effort in promoting inclusiveness in the disability community.

She further restated her commitment to promoting the inclusiveness of the PWDs in the hospitality sector

Also speaking, one of the facilitators for the training, Toluwase Olaniyan, Managing Partner, Worden HCD Limited said disability was more of a stigma that could not be easily overcome but existing programmes by Project Enable Africa have proved that Persons with Disabilities have lots of skills embedded in them to develop Africa.

He further said discrimination and stigmatization have become a norm in society, noting that inclusion space in Nigeria is growing wider

He admonished the graduands that their state will not be the state they are, in his words: “ Nothing can stop you in achieving what you want to be, what will stop you is you and your background cannot put your back to the ground,”

‘’People’s perception about disability is that it is a stigma that cannot be overcome but we have come with the reality that persons with disabilities have a lot to offer the society.

‘’The government of Nigeria should build a system that will accommodate Persons with Disabilities, in terms of infrastructures that can easily be accessed. Also, it should design policies that are disability friendly and we need to enforce this to the latter so that Persons with Disabilities can render their best to the society.’’ He said.

Similarly, Kola Olugbodi, a Director with Project Enable Africa and Chief Executive Officer, at Background Check International, said the project is more of a calling to ensure that inclusiveness in the workplace becomes a tradition in Nigeria.

He commended ProjectEnable partners for their contribution towards the disability youth employment program

He further urged graduands to improve their skills to make them more outstanding in their various field

Ayo Olanrewaju, Human Capital Lead, KFC, Nigeria, said in India, the Master franchise of the company built some stalls that are fully being operated by Persons with Disabilities since the Year 2000, ‘’In India, we have some stalls that are completely being operated by Persons with Disabilities, since the year, 2000. Global inclusiveness has led to this.

‘‘We are also planning a similar project in Nigeria to see how we can integrate Persons with Disabilities in our programmes,’’ he said

Two of the trainees, Oluwasegun Samagbeyi and Mary Adebiyi said they have benefitted immensely from the training.

According to Mary, she has secured employment with a hospitality company after her internship at the administrative department.

In attendance were partners like Radisson Blu, Sheraton, Chicken Republic, KFC, and Sustainable Hospitality Alliance among others.