By Emegwoako C. Paschal
Aminu Bello Masari, Governor of Katsina State, has donated wheelchairs, orthopedic devices, surgical instruments, and clutches to hospitals and people with disabilities in the state to celebrate this year’s Independence Day.
In collaboration with Bruderhilfe Social Development Initiative, Masari’s non-governmental organization, the Aminu Masari Youth Empowerment Foundation, made the donation at the Government House.
Masari, while presenting the gifts to the recipients, said the foundation was initiated in 2005 with the express purpose of easing the suffering of the weak and physically handicapped through empowerment and scholarships.
He warned the recipients against selling the items, saying that they would incur God’s wrath if they did.
He said, “For us, we are celebrating this year’s Independence Day in a big way by giving our less fortunate people a voice and helping some of our medical institutions do their jobs well.
“About 18 years ago, in 2005, the Aminu Masari Empowerment Foundation was founded. For those who don’t know, I was not the governor of Katsina State then, so that is not why this foundation was created.”
“It had already been around for almost ten years before I was governor. And I have no doubt that some of the senior officers have received scholarships from various institutions across the nation today.”
According to Mary Bruder, president of Bruderhilfe Social Development Initiative, the NGO has enrolled 35 orphans and five widows in its “One Family at a Time” program in the state’s Dutsi and Kusada LGAs.
She continued by saying that the organization had also given their orphans access to their scholarship program, given them educational supplies, and given their families donations of essential items for daily living.
Ibrahim Ahmed Katsina, the foundation’s secretary and the governor’s special adviser on security issues, earlier claimed that the nonprofit organization had provided 300 wheelchairs to people with physical disabilities.
