Learning Through Skills Acquisition Initiative (LETSAI) has empowered 160 persons with disabilities (PWDs) and 80 vulnerable persons in Borno State with livelihood skills, mobility aids, and business startup support. The programme was carried out in partnership with Christoffel Blinden Mission (CBM) and aimed at improving self-reliance among participants.
Beneficiaries, including women, were trained in traditional cap knotting, shoemaking, and tailoring. Participants were drawn from Maiduguri metropolis and various local government areas across the state.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony for participants trained on livelihood skills and the distribution of assistive devices, the Programme Officer of LETSAI, Noah John, who represented the Executive Director, Mariam Aliyu, said the intervention was designed using a community-based approach to meet the real needs of beneficiaries.
“The reason we are here is to distribute startup kits to persons with disabilities and other vulnerable persons through our community-based approach,” he said. “We identified their needs and are supporting them with livelihood skills and assistive devices to enhance their mobility and self-reliance.”
As part of the empowerment package, LETSAI distributed sewing machines, tricycles for persons with physical and intellectual impairments, as well as 28 medicated eyeglasses. John added that more than 1,600 persons would benefit from assistive devices, while 80 beneficiaries directly received skills acquisition training.
The initiative was welcomed by disability advocacy groups and community leaders. The Chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Borno State chapter, Ahmadu Umar, said the intervention would help reduce street begging, particularly in Maiduguri.
He commended LETSAI and its partners for the support and urged other organisations to emulate the gesture. Also speaking, a community leader, Wakil Barma, advised beneficiaries not to sell or dispose of their starter kits, noting that the support would ease their hardship.
He described the programme as timely, especially in the aftermath of years of Boko Haram insurgency that affected livelihoods across Borno State.
