In what can be described as a conscious effort towards living out its motto “We value life”, Fidson Healthcare Plc yesterday extended her life-valuing gesture to people suffering from disabilities as it donated N1 million as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to Children Development Center, Lagos.
Making the donation on behalf of Fidson Healthcare, Oladimeji Oduyebo, Corporate Services Manger, Fidson Healthcare Plc said that the core of the company’s CSR is centered on children’s health, the company deemed it fit to contribute its quota towards improving the quality of life of the children.
Oduyebo noted that it was for this reason that it made the donation towards supporting Children Developmental Center, a non-governmental organisation totally dedicated to the provision of quality support services to children and young adults with disabilities.
In his words “children with various forms of disabilities are like any other children out there. So as a corporate organsation that focus on children’s health, there is the need to support those who take care of these children both financially and otherwise especially during their developmental stages so that they can have a feel of belonging in the larger society.
“However, over the years, we have also extended scholarship schemes to children in Nigeria as part of our CSR. Fidson Healthcare will always be committed towards formulating products and services which is geared towards improving the life and health of children.”
Responding to the donation, Yinka Akindayomi, service director, CDC, thanked the management and staff of Fidson Healthcare for providing financial support to the center. Akindayomi revealed that the primary aim of setting up the center was to add value to the lives of people with disabilities in order to make them stakeholders in nation building.
The service director disclosed that the challenge with running the center has been the negative perception of the community with regards to children with special needs as this has often times made parents with such children not seeing the need to invest in their lives to become leaders of tomorrow.
In her words “the perception of people with disabilities still remains a challenge in our society. We won’t be dissuaded by this singular fact. In CDC, we have in place the following quality service which are focused on improving such children; early intervention unit, pre-school unit, adolescent and young adults educational and vocational unit, physiotherapy and disability advocacy units to mention but a few. We have about 300 children in our care.
“We however solicit to the general public for more funds as it complete its Living and Learning center at Ibeju Lekki (an 8. 35acres of land) estimate to cost N500 million. The Phase One of the project is on-going and when completed will be relevant in meeting the ever changing needs of people with disabilities in Lagos and beyond,” Akindayomi concluded.
It is believed that with support from other corporate organisation in the country, children with disabilities will have a belonging in the outer society following acquisition of skills it must have acquired in centers of this sort.
by Alexander Chiejina
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