Former Governor of Kano State and ex-National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has warned northern leaders over the increasing rate of beggars in the region, stressing that the neglect of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) is responsible for the menace.

While lamenting the astronomical rise in the rate of disabled persons in northern Nigeria, leading to an array of beggars, Ganduje appealed to governors, development partners, and philanthropists to invest more in physically challenged persons to reduce begging in the northern part of the country.

The former ruling party boss suggested that with more investment in technological gadgets and education, it will be easier for those with special needs in society to make an impact and become more useful to themselves and the community instead of begging.

Ganduje spoke on Friday in Abuja at the premiere of a documentary marking the 10th anniversary of Let’s Talk Humanity (LTH), an organisation caring for the educational needs of the deaf and blind, and the brainchild of his daughter, Fatima Ganduje Abiola-Ajimobi.

According to him: “I want to specially thank Fatima, my daughter. Since you were born, and grew to become a toddler, I saw the capacity and capability in you. I am so happy that they have been unveiled by what you are doing today.

“In the northern part of the country, persons with disabilities are people relegated to the background. Seeing is believing, no doubt. That is why we have an array of beggars across the northern parts of this country day and night. Some sleep under bridges and a few by the roadside. This is a sorry sight. Yes, they are relegated because they are physically challenged and this is affecting their psyche and motivation. They shouldn’t be humiliated like that.

“But looking at what we saw here this afternoon, you can see that there is a silent revolution ongoing if what we are seeing could be adopted by our relevant governors and relevant authorities, there is no doubt there will be a big positive change in our society.

“By unveiling these kinds of programmes, we are teaching them to be like any normal human being in our society. Finally, I urge those in government and development partners to help make a great change, especially among persons with disabilities. Those physically challenged can’t stop begging. They can develop to the extent that they can even be employers of labour. They can develop to the extent that they can be geniuses in various fields of endeavors,” he said.

He praised the initiative, calling on various government authorities and development partners to invest more in the development of those with special needs in society.

Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines during the event, Fatima said that the organisation has been able to have a ripple effect over the last 10 years, noting: “From our inception, training some of the students, the top students and the teachers, year after year, this institution, this public school, is turning out over 1000 students every year, because it has primary, junior and senior secondary all on the same campus.

“Now with that, when you calculate, you would know we are affecting, impacting over 1000 students every year, for over 10 years. We have been able to impact them in terms of entrepreneurship, because to be learned is to be able, and to be able is to be productive, and to be productive means to be financially stable.

“I would say there is also another impact that we are looking at 10 years back, I would say that we have been able to do very good there as well also in the gender gap. In gender disparity, we have been able to push up the amount of deaf students that are in enrollment and in power with either men or women.

“We have been able to have more girls being enrolled in these special schools and in higher tertiary institutions. Most importantly, I will say that the greatest level of impact is providing our center and our model of education as another solution, as another alternative to what we have presently going on, which is the almajiri crisis that is plaguing the northern country, northern side of the country.

“We believe that our ICT Center is a great model that has been proven, tested, and we hope to scale this at the event where we had Ministers, heads of national parastatals. We are hoping that with education and with technology, we can collate all these MDS together, collate other NGOs that are of like minds, and be able to scale the impact nationwide.”

In attendance at the event were the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Bernard M. Doro, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and representatives of the Kano State government, among others. (The Sun)