Women centre will get first wheelchair ramp after 34 years – News Agency of Nigeria
Ramp
By Philomina Attah
Abuja, Oct. 16, 2026 (NAN) The Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development says it can mark its thirty fourth anniversary on Oct. 17 with a deal with innovation, inclusion and girls empowerment.
The Director-General of the centre, Dr Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, disclosed this on Friday when asserting actions to mark its 34 years anniversary in Abuja.
Benjamins-Laniyi stated the centre, established 34 years in the past by late First Lady Maryam Babangida, had operated with out entry for ladies on wheelchairs till now.
She stated the centre had constructed its first wheelchair accessibility ramp, constructed by Julius Berger for gratis to authorities as Corporate Social Responsibility.
The D-G stated the intervention adopted an accessibility audit carried out in collaboration with the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities.
Benjamins-Laniyi stated on assumption of workplace on June 1, she refused to occupy the D-G’s workplace upstairs till girls with disabilities might entry it.
She stated the choice was knowledgeable by an expertise in August when a board member with incapacity, Ms Lois Auta, needed to be lifted by 5 males to attend a gathering upstairs.
The D-G stated Auta, for the primary time on Wednesday, wheeled into the constructing with dignity with out help.
She stated the centre would additionally redesign its auditorium ramp which had brought on accidents attributable to improper building.
Benjamins-Laniyi stated the centre was additionally mainstreaming incapacity inclusion past bodily infrastructure.
She stated a visually impaired workers who joined the centre 29 years in the past on the most junior degree within the ICT division would now head a directorate.
She stated the centre was upgrading its enabling know-how and rolling out new empowerment packages, analysis, Artificial Intelligence and ICT programmes by its six zonal places of work.
She listed its companions to incorporate the High Commission of India and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
The D-G stated the centre was collaborating with the National Gallery of Art to unveil the “First 66”, a public portal the place Nigerians would select 65 dwelling girls icons.
She stated First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, who not too long ago marked her 66th birthday, can be listed as primary on the portal.
Benjamins-Laniyi urged girls to embrace solidarity, coining a cost, “She for She”, to counter the narrative that ladies don’t help girls.
She suggested girls who had contested elections to stay targeted, noting that contesting for place was a step in the direction of positioning different girls.
She stated the centre was being repositioned because the entrance workplace of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in step with the Women O’Clock declaration of the Minister, Hajia Imaan (*34*)-Ibrahim. (NAN)
APA/EAL
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Edited by Ekemini Ladejobi

