A group of deaf and hard of hearing (HOH) persons who are under the Deaf and Cabinet Society of Nigeria, have received a grant of one million naira from the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, towards the development of the group’s furniture workshop.

A statement by Nnamdi Asomugha, NDE’s Assistant_ Director (Information & Public Relations), said the workshop is where members of the society are trained in furniture making for employment and skills acquisition.
The funding is part of the Directorate’s community development service scheme to train and empower vulnerable persons under the special public works and vocational skills development programme.

According to the statement, approval for the grant was made when a three_man delegation of the society held discussions with the Director_General of the NDE Mallam Abubakar Mohammed, in his office in Abuja.
The interaction was conducted through the use of facial expression, gestures and writings.

The group led by Mr.Ajakaye Mohammed Sanni, Ajayi Olobatoke and Aderibigbe Oluwasola, had requested for financial assistance to develop a workshop in Nyanya, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

They said that unless the land allocated to the society was developed in the immediate future, the plot of land maybe revoked by the authorities.

Mallam Mohammed said he had been monitoring the society’s self_development efforts even before he became the Director_General of the NDE.

He empathised with the society and said that the NDE would continue to address the needs of vulnerable groups in the country to ensure their training and resettlement into gainful employment.