L-R: Former Chairman Executives Council, FNSB, Chief OluFalomo,
Nollywood Actress,Sola Sobowale, Chairman, FNSB, Asiwaju Fola Osibo,
Vice Chairman, FNSB, Mrs.FolashadeAdefisayo and Past Chairman
Executives Council, FNSB, Mrs.BiolaAgbaje during the Masked May Ball
Event in Lagos.
The Federal Nigeria Society for the
Blind (FNSB) celebrated its annual fundraiser May Ball last Saturday in
Lagos amidst pomp and splendor, with the presence of prominent Nollywood
stars. Draped in the red, black and white colour scheme of the event,
the Shell Hall of the Muson Centre Onikan, Lagos came alive with star
performances from the VTC Choir, a blind dancer and interactions with
some of the blind students. Ranti of Iwe Kiko fame also performed. There
was a fashion parade of designs made from fabrics designed by VTC
students. And raffle draws and other competitions held where guests won
various prizes.
Particularly adding glamour to the event
was the presence of influential persons in the society and particularly
Nollywood players including Tade Ogidan, Sola Sobowale, Foluke
Daramola, Fathia Balogun, Iyabo Ojo, Bimbo Akintola, Ronke Oshodi Oke
and Lepa Shandy.
But the glamour was missing to the blind
students for which the event was all about. They sat at specially
designated tables decked in their usual black tops and black trousers or
skirts for men and women respectively, with white canes, some decked in
dark eyeglasses. They were like other people, except for them, it was
dark everywhere.
FNSB Chairman, Asiwaju Fola Osibo,
complained of lack of funds to run the organisation’s activities and
reiterated an institutional neglect from government saying, “We receive
no subvention from the government. We are absolutely a voluntary
organization and depend on generous givers to run this organization and
we have been doing this since 1955.”
Though an anonymous donation of two
million naira amidst other donations was announced, it represented a
miniscule sum in the 40 million naira needed to run FNSB’s Vocational
Training Centre (VTC) located in Oshodi, Lagos annually.
Actress Iyabo Ojo said the plight of blind people in Nigeria was a major concern to her.
“Going into several homes, I discovered a
lot, parents do abandon their children,” said Ojo who thinks parents
and other members of the society must care for the blind. “They have
their own special gifts and blessing, that’s what I think. When you care
show them love, God in return will shower his own blessing on you”
Sola Sobowale, another actress who is
seriously spearheading the initiative, said, “In other countries abroad,
people with special needs are given optimum attention but back here in
Nigeria, they are neglected and treated with disdain. And as a result
this set of people do not have confidence in themselves”.
Lamenting further, she said, “We should
not make them feel unwanted. We should not make them live in misery. We
should try and support them and make their lives more meaningful and
useful to the society. A lot of them have great ideas and untapped
talents even though they are physically impaired.”
She also appealed to corporates
organisations as well as government agencies to stop discriminating
against the physically impaired.
“A lot of organisations out there
discriminate against them by not offering them job opportunities even
when they know many of the physically impaired are very intelligent and
are full of great ideas. So what we are saying is that the physically
impaired should be given the attention and opportunity they deserve.”
Speaking further, she said, “That is why
I am taking it up as a huge responsibility to ensure that my colleagues
in the movie industry join hands with me to ensure that this course is
pursued logically. I want people out there to know that it is not the
end of the world for them when they go blind. There are a lot of talents
in you, which you can use for your good and that of the society at
large. I am equally appealing to organisations out there to give them
jobs because some of these physically impaired people can do better than
those with sight. I am also calling on government to come to their aid
by providing all amenities that these special people require to live
their lives with as much comfort as they could.”
Established in 1956, the Vocational
Training Centre has trained over 2,000 people, empowering them with
skills to make them useful to society and themselves.
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