Rotary Club donates wheelchairs to polio survivors in Bauchi
The Rotary Club International, Bauchi Central chapter, on Friday donated 10 wheelchairs to polio survivors in Bauchi state.
Speaking during the distribution of the equipment in Bauchi, the club’s president, Mr Chukwunonso Nwobi, said that the gesture was one of the focus areas of the club is one of the leading organisations championing the eradication of polio in the world.
The wheelchairs, he said, were not given to them to encourage street begging, but rather to aid their movements while engaging in productive activities.
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“There are people affected by polio and we don’t want them to be a burden to the society as a result of not being able to move about.
“As a result, we try to aid them in their movements by providing these hand-powered tricycles. These will help them to go to schools, places of work or worship centres and learn a trade so that they will not be a burden to themselves or to society.
“I will like to urge the beneficiaries not to give up on life and aspire for whatever they will like to be.
“Two among them are graduates and one of them had served with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
“So, whatever your dreams are in spite of your disability, you can still achieve them because there is ability in disability,” he said.
The president, who warned the beneficiaries against using the chairs for street begging, added that the club had the right to confiscate the chair from any of them found guilty.
In his address, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, the Executive Chairman, of Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BSPHCDA), appreciated the kind gesture by the club.
Mohammed represented by Mr Yusuf Pate, the Deputy Director, Disease Control, BSPHCDA, said that the agency and Rotary Club had been working together for many years especially, in the fight against polio in the state.
He urged the club to continue to provide maximum support to the state government to fight against polio not only in Nigeria but in Bauchi State in particular.
In their separate votes of thanks, two beneficiaries: Malam Hassan Mohammed and Saudat Galadima, thanked the Rotary Club and the BSPHCDA for identifying them and others as beneficiaries of the gesture.
They promised to use the equipment judiciously and prayed for more people to provide such assistance to their counterparts.
