No fewer than 80 physically challenged persons have so far benefited from the Delta State organized Skills’ Training and Entrepreneurship (STEP) programme.
The state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Community and Social Development, Mrs Omatsola Williams, said this on Monday in Asaba.
Williams was speaking at a one-day orientation programme organised by her ministry in collaboration with the Office of Job Creation for persons with disabilities.
Williams said that 51 persons with disabilities benefited from the programme in 2016/2017 cycle, while an additional 29 persons had just been enrolled for the 2017/2018 cycle.
She said that the beneficiaries were selected from the various local government areas of the state on cluster-to- cluster basis.
The commissioner also said that the beneficiaries would be trained for between three months to six months depending on their chosen enterprise.
She said that the trainers would be using the community base vocational rehabilitation (CBVR) model approach during the training.
Williams said that the trainees would be attached to a relevant trainer within their respective communities of residence.
They would also be provided with an interpreter when necessary to facilitate learning within the stipulated period, she said.
She advised them to take the training seriously and warned that any trainee who found wanting would be de-listed from the programme.
Earlier, the Chief Job Creation Officer, Prof. Eric Eboh, said that the state government was committed to the welfare of persons with disabilities in the state.
Eboh noted that their inclusion in the job- creation programme was aimed at equipping them with relevant skills required to make them self-reliant.
He assured them that at the end of the training, they would be given starter packs that would enable them establish their own businesses.
Eboh said that each of the beneficiaries would be paid a monthly stipend of N10,000 within the period of the training.
Mr Isaac Obruche, who responded on behalf of the other beneficiaries, commended the state government for the gesture.