Fashola gives automatic employment to 3 blind lawyers

Three visually impaired lawyers, Victor Anomo, Babatunde Safiu and Salami Abolarinwa, were on Saturday offered automatic employment by Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos.

The governor announced the offer in Ikeja at an event organised to commemorate the 1,600 days of his administration in office.

One of the beneficiaries, Anomo, had solicited for employment at the occasion when he advocated the empowerment of the physically challenged.

The governor directed the State Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeola Ipaye, to instantly collect their details for employment.

Fashola said the government considered the engagement of the visually impaired lawyers in view of the great efforts they had made in developing themselves inspite their challenges.

The governor also said the employment of the lawyers was aimed at encouraging people with disabilities to strive to achieve their goals in life.

``Recently, we employed two visually impaired persons into the state civil service.

`` Since they could not work on the normal paper we procured Braille machines for them, and I can tell you they are doing well.

``We want to be doing more of things like this. We want to encourage more of people with physical challenges who have acquired some skills, just like these lawyers, and make them part of the civil service,'' he said.

He said the assent to the Disability Bill, which sought to protect the interests of the physically challenged, was a mark of his administration's commitment to bettering the lots of this category of persons.

Fashola said that public buildings and other road infrastructures were, with the enactment of the law, to be fitted with facilities designed to ease the movement of the physically challenged.

He, however, noted that all public structures built in the last four years were designed with such facilities, saying government would continue to protect the interests of the physically challenged.