By Admin 
The First Lady of Delta State, Deaconess Tobore Oborevwori, has urged Nigerians to pay more attention to individuals with autism in the society.
Mrs. Oborevwori made this appeal on Wednesday during the presentation of a One Million Naira cheque and other gifts to the Action for Children with Coordination, Hearing, Intellectual, Expressive, Visual, and Educational Disabilities (ACCHIEVE) Center in Effurun, Delta state in recognition of World Autism Day 2025. The ACCHIEVE Center is run by NigerWives, a non-governmental organization (NGO).
Represented by Mrs. Maureen Ofoni, Chairperson of Uvwie Local Government Area, the First Lady emphasized the importance of recognizing the abilities of individuals with disabilities.
Other notable guests present also made cash donations to support the center’s work.
In her welcome address, Dr. Rosebud Nwafor, President of NigerWives, explained that the center was established in 2005 after the organization recognized that many children with special needs were being kept at home due to the lack of appropriate educational facilities.
Dr. Nwafor expressed gratitude to the First Lady and other dignitaries for their generous contributions, noting the increasing societal awareness of autism.
FULL SPEECH BELOW:
AN ADDRESS BY NIGERWIFE DR. ROSEBUD NWAFOR ON THE
0CCASION OF THE VISIT BY THE FIRST LADY OF DELTA
STATE, HER EXCELLENCY DEAKONESss TOBORE OBOREyWORI
TO CELEBRATE WORLD AUTISM DA Y.
Our organisation – Nigerwives Nigeria – İs an NGO whose main aim is to
establish or assist in social projects of benefit to the e communities where we live.
We are the Warri Branch of Nigerwives Nigeria. Our own project, Centre
Acchieve, was conceived in 2005, when we realised that a good number of
challenged children were being kept at home. We identified the absence of an
educational facility for these children in Warri and environs.
Thanks to the generous support of friends, we were able to build a facility for
children with special needs, a non residential Centre, which was officially
opened in January 2015.
Children with various handicaps, from the age of 4 years, are taught basic
education, daily living skills, arts, music, etc. Our staff consists of fully
qualified special Education graduates with specialist skills. They work with the
children in small groups, meaning that each child gets an individually tailored
program.
In case you wonder about the spelling of Acchieve’ -Acchieve is an
acronym for: Action for Children; with Coordination; Hearing; Intellectual;
Expressive; Visual and Educational disabilities.
As awareness is growing, more children are brought to us. With 36 children,
our first building is full to capacity, with a growing number on waiting list. We
had to start building an extension.
By Jan 2018, the foundation of three more buildings was done. When
completed, we will have additional classrooms, facilities for skill acquisition
for older children, space for physiotherapy, and a hall for school events and
public enlightenment campaigns.
Depending on donations (mostly from friends abroad – sadly local financial
support has been very minimal), it took us 7 years to get to the present stage
which you can see in front of you. To complete the complex, including
furnishing and equipments, will take approx. 100 Million Naira.
In conclusion, I would like to congratulate the First Lady of Delta State on her
transformative mission to develop programs not only for autism but for
Women’s empowerment and to combat other social challenges.