No fewer than 230 people with disabilities (PWDs) have benefited from a skills acquisition programme introduced by the Ekiti State Government, according to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Education and Social Inclusion, Princess Adetoun Agboola.

Speaking on Ekiti Loni, Ekiti Today, a live radio programme in Ado-Ekiti, Princess Agboola said 100 beneficiaries are currently undergoing training at the Skills Acquisition Centre in Ilokun, along the Ado–Ifaki Road noting that another 130 people participated in the programme between 2023 and 2025.

She said upon completion of the training programme, beneficiaries were empowered with start up tools including sewing machines, mannequins, button stapling machines and fabrics for fashion designers; laptops and printers for information and communications technology trainees; generators and shoemaking machines for shoemakers; dryers, wig-making tools and wash hand basins for hairdressers; as well as ovens, gas cookers, mixers and pastry materials for catering trainees.

The programme also includes internship placements with local artisans to give participants practical experience, she added.

Agboola said the government had carried out community engagement visits across local government areas, encouraging parents and guardians to enrol children with special needs in the state’s three special schools and the State Therapy Centre for free education and therapy.

She said voter education and sensitisation on free healthcare services for people with disabilities at primary healthcare centres formed part of the outreach, adding that food items were distributed to PWDs during the tour.

The Oyebanji administration has invested massively in the rehabilitation of facilities at the School for the Deaf in Ikoro-Ekiti, the School for the Blind in Ikere-Ekiti and the School for Children with Special Needs in Ido-Ekiti, she said.

According to Agboola, the schools have been equipped with modern facilities and staffed with qualified personnel, alongside the Government Therapy Centre for Children with Disabilities in Ado-Ekiti.

A total of 103 students are currently receiving care at the therapy centre, located at the Old Governor’s Office in Ado-Ekiti, and many have shown significant improvement, she said.

Agboola said the initiative had helped uncover talents among beneficiaries, citing the example of Master Awelewa Eniola, a student of the Special School in Ido-Ekiti, who placed fourth at a national arts competition in Abuja and received a cash prize of one million naira and a motorised wheelchair.

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She said her office also organised a mental health programme for 300 women with disabilities in the state, providing free counselling and financial support.

The administration has introduced a free healthcare programme for people with disabilities at primary healthcare centres across the state, she added.

Agboola urged eligible beneficiaries to enrol in the programmes.
She also said a new inclusive public school had been established in Ikole-Ekiti, donated by the State Commissioner for Finance, Akintunde Oyebode, to integrate children with and without disabilities.

In addition, 138 amputees have benefited from prostheses made available by Akintunde Rotimi Jr, who represents Ekiti North Federal Constituency I in the House of Representatives, she said.