By Olugbolade Ogboro-Cole
The Ekiti State Government on Tuesday took delivery of 100 tricycle Wheelchairs for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the state to boost mobility and productivity. The tricycles were facilitated by Israel Benerad Offong and Zion Timothy Atser, ex-NYSC corps members of Batch A Stream 1 and Batch B Stream 1, respectively, of the 2025/2026 service year, who were posted to Ado Ekiti for their mandatory service. They worked in conjunction with Beautiful Gate, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Jos and specialized in manufacturing mobility aids for persons with disabilities.
The tricycles were received by the Special Adviser on Special Education and Social Inclusion, Mrs Adetoun Agboola, on behalf of the government on Tuesday at the Women Development Centre, Ilokun, Ado Ekiti.
Adetoun, in her acceptance speech, commended the youth corps members for the gesture, describing it as unprecedented and apt, as it further reinforced the passionate advocacy of the Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, that the development of the PWDs community deserved a collective effort that government alone could not provide. She thereby used the occasion to call on other individuals, organizations and corporate bodies to rise to the urgent need of keeping alive the hope of PWDs around the world, knowing that disability is not inability and that the world would be a better place to live in.
She passionately rolled out the various selfless initiatives of the state governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, towards transforming the PWDs community in the state, which she said were unprecedented in the history of the state and were gradually gaining national recognition.
Mrs Agboola revealed that such intervention was also replicated by Premium Trust Bank CEO Emmanuel Emefienem with the construction of therapy centers in all special schools in the state, aside from the Governor’s massive renovations, recruitment of specialists as therapists and caregivers, donation of state-of-the-art teaching aids, training opportunities, empowerment initiatives and more.
She also used the event to assure residents that the second term of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s administration would focus more on empowerment initiatives that would further the reintegration process of PWDs into society and equip them to work, live and survive.
She also commended the NGO, Beautiful Gate, for the gesture and for its selfless service to humanity, describing it as rare, going through the rigors of assembling and manufacturing such masterpieces without minding the cost and challenges that came with it. She urged them not to relent and wished them more grace to function.
The 100 tricycles, according to her, were for beneficiaries who lived in rural areas where there were fewer traffic movements; hence, the majority of the beneficiaries were selected from those areas without prejudice. Rather, they were selected according to their critical needs.
The Special Adviser noted that the NGO provided the tricycles free of charge; all the state government did was provide logistics running into millions from Jos down to the state and other processes, including assembly, accommodation, welfare, etc.
Similarly, all beneficiaries went home with ten thousand naira cash for transportation back to their various communities.
In an interview with JIROLTV, the representative of the facilitators of the gesture, Israel Offong, who also stood in for Zion Atser, remarked that the genuine and selfless passion of the Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, for the PWDs community, as witnessed during their period of service in the state, had propelled them to approach Beautiful Gate NGO and contribute their widow’s mite to support the move.
He explained that the world would be a better place if governors across the country were deliberate and passionate like Governor Oyebanji on issues regarding PWDs and maintained a holistic strategy to improve their lives.
Yilgwan Sandra, the Media Director for Beautiful Gate, said the organization did not allow distance, religious belief or other barriers to limit its mobility support for persons with disabilities across Nigeria.
She explained that the tricycles were fabricated at the organization’s office in Jos, with imported tires, while the bodies were locally assembled. According to her, the number of tricycles given out could be more or less than 100, depending on the capacity of the person mobilizing beneficiaries.
She also disclosed that Beautiful Gate employed persons with disabilities as staff, including about 10 or more, and that one staff member had paid his way through school that year.
JIROLTV News gathered that Beautiful Gate had distributed over 43,000 locally assembled tricycles. The NGO was owned by a person with disability who had polio at age four, was gifted a tricycle, summoned the courage to return to school, and later founded the organization. He had since been appointed by President Bola Tinubu in the disability sector.
The beneficiaries, in an interview, expressed heartfelt praise for Governor Biodun Oyebanji for his unrelenting support and genuine initiatives and interventions for the PWDs community, and prayed for his continued success, noting that the tricycles would really aid their mobility, reduce transportation costs and keep their hope alive.
The event climaxed with excited beneficiaries smiling home with their tricycles, cash in hand and a renewed shot at life.
