The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), has equipped 120 persons with disabilities in Ogoni, Rivers State, with business tools after training them in fashion design and photography.
The beneficiaries received sewing machines, cameras, certificates and assistive devices during a close-out ceremony held at Nortem Town Hall on Friday.
HYPREP Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, said the initiative was designed to enable the beneficiaries to set up their own businesses and achieve financial independence.
“We are not just empowering them by giving them starter packs. We are empowering them to take charge, to become entrepreneurs,” Zabbey stated.
He added that HYPREP would monitor the progress of the graduates’ businesses and called on residents and organisations in Ogoni to patronise their products and services.
One of the beneficiaries, Anthony Ubore from Eleme, said he began sewing clothes for himself three months into the six-month training and had already started selling his products.
The President-General of the Ogoni Association of Persons Living with Disabilities in Ogoni, Comrade Ngo Baridapdoo, commended HYPREP for the programme but urged the project to extend similar opportunities to more persons with disabilities in the area.
He assured those yet to benefit that more opportunities would come.
“If you’re hearing my voice, you’re my fellow special needs, don’t lose hope. Because those who have not benefited, the next programme coming up, you will benefit,” Ngo added.
