Ekiti Empowers 100 Persons With Disabilities With Start Up Tools After Vocational Training.

Ekiti Empowers 100 Persons With Disabilities With Start Up Tools After Vocational Training.

ADO EKITI, Ekiti State  The Ekiti State Government has empowered 100 Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) with vocational tools and equipment after they completed an intensive skills acquisition programme designed to strengthen economic independence and promote inclusive participation in the state’s economy.

The beneficiaries graduated from the Ekiti State Skills Acquisition Centre in Ilokun, Ado Ekiti, following training organized by the Office of Disability Affairs in collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser on Special Education and Social Inclusion.

The programme equipped participants with practical skills in areas including Information and Communication Technology (ICT), tailoring, hairdressing, shoemaking, catering and hospitality. They subsequently received equipment to enable them to begin applying their skills and establish income generating businesses.

The items distributed included sewing machines, salon and hairdressing equipment, shoemaking machines and tools, ICT equipment, as well as catering and hospitality equipment. The intervention is intended to bridge the gap between skills acquisition and access to the basic productive resources required to turn those skills into sustainable livelihoods.

Speaking at the graduation and empowerment ceremony, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Oyeniyi Adebayo, who represented Governor Biodun Oyebanji, said the initiative reflected the administration’s commitment to inclusive governance and creating opportunities for persons with disabilities to participate meaningfully in economic activities.

He urged the beneficiaries to make productive use of the equipment provided and build sustainable enterprises around the skills they had acquired.

The programme has expanded steadily since its inception. According to Special Adviser on Special Education and Social Inclusion, Princess Adetoun Agboola, the initiative began with 30 participants in 2023, rose to 40 in 2024 and 60 in 2025 before reaching 100 beneficiaries in 2026.

The 2026 cohort also included 10 parents of children with severe disabilities. Agboola explained that some of the parents, particularly mothers, had previously faced difficulties pursuing economic activities because of the extensive care their children required.

She said the establishment of the Ekiti State Government Therapy Centre for Children with Disabilities has provided professional care and therapy for the children, giving their parents greater opportunity to undergo vocational training and pursue livelihoods.

The latest empowerment follows an earlier government effort launched in January 2026, when Ekiti announced an eight-month vocational training programme for 100 PWDs across six vocational areas. The state government said participants would receive stipends during the training and start up kits after completing the programme.

Beyond immediate economic support, the development highlights the importance of linking disability inclusion with practical access to employment, entrepreneurship and productive assets. For beneficiaries, the provision of tools alongside vocational training offers a pathway to move from acquiring skills to putting those skills into practice.

Ekiti’s programme is also part of a broader pattern of state level interventions targeting the economic inclusion of persons with disabilities. In 2025, the state reported that another cohort of PWDs had undergone specialized vocational training, with beneficiaries receiving support intended to improve their economic independence.

For the 100 newly empowered beneficiaries, the effectiveness of the intervention will ultimately depend not only on the distribution of equipment but also on continued access to markets, finance, mentorship and an enabling business environment. Such support could help ensure that the skills acquired translate into sustainable enterprises and longer term economic participation.