Obasanjo Foundation, partner donates N6bn worth hearing aids to Bauchi
By Samuel Luka, Bauchi
Not fewer than 2000 people, mostly school children in Bauchi state on Saturday received hearing aide worth N6 billion from Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation in partnership with Starkey Hearing Foundation.
Speaking during a four-day ear check and distribution exercise of the hearing aids, Dr Olalekan Makinde, Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation, said that the gesture would be extended to 2,000 people in the state.
Makinde, who explained that each of the hearing aids is estimated at a cost of N3 million, said children would be prioritised in the distribution exercise.
“The Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation is about transforming lives. We are focused on Africa and give the people reasons to live life to the fullest.
“Hearing mission is about giving people with hearing impairment another hope for hearing and another hope for living.
“Most of these people can’t afford this hearing aids, so we are trying to give it to them free of charge with batteries, the ear mode and everything they need for them to hear.
“We are prioritising the children first because when you lose your hearing, you eventually lose your speech as they work together. Adults that are waiting would be attended to after the children,” he said.
Makinde affirmed that many people’s lives would be transformed with the gesture, saying “this is because it’s not about the beneficiaries but about a whole family and the communities they live in”.
He called on the beneficiaries to take good care of the kits, adding that they would be introduced to engineers they can reach out to in case the items develop any problems.
One of the beneficiaries who spoke on behalf of others, Mohammed Sani, a student of Special Education Centre, Bauchi, appreciated the foundation for providing them with the items.
Sani who noted that, with the hearing aides, they can now hear and listen in their classes contrary to what it used to be, prayed God to bless the foundation for the gesture.
