Obasanjo Reveals Battle with Partial Deafness: 'I Was 25% Deaf for Years'

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By Sule Aliyu Bauchi 

Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation in partnership with Starkey Hearing Foundation have distributed hearing aids worth N6 billion to no fewer than 2,000 people in Bauchi state who are having hearing impairment.

Just as he  said that he once suffered 25 per cent hearing loss without knowing it.

The former President made the donation during the launching of his foundation, the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation with the mission of Empowering Africans, particularly those with hearing challenges, held at the government house Bauchi.

According to Obasanjo, many people unknowingly suffer from deafness, a condition which he personally experienced during meeting he attended in Abroad.

He said that those who have hearing problems may not discover on time until it is diagnosed through medical check up which test their hearing capacity.

“I was 25 percent deaf, but I did not detect it until I was struggling to hear conversations during a meeting I attended abroad.I could not hear properly when someone in the meeting was talking to me.I insisted that nothing was wrong with my hearing, but the man asked for permission to test my hearing capacity”.     

“After the results came out, I had to ask the man to check the hearing capacity of my Chief Security Officer then, to my surprise, he was more deaf than I was” he said

He stated that he would be flagging off the distribution of hearing aids to more than 10,000 indigent people in the Northeast region, starting from Bauchi State where 2,000 people would benefit.

Obasanjo while thanking Governor Bala Abdukadir Muhammad  for partnering with his foundation, called on the people of the state to continue supporting the current administration in the state in its efforts to bring development.

Responding, Governor Bala Muhammàd commended the former President and the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation for touching the lives of the common man through the distribution of the hearing aids, saying that the gesture was very timely

He said that in today’s world many people have been disabled, not by any inherent capacity, but by preventable conditions and curable diseases that is fueled by fueled by poverty and other wants.

Governor Muhammad said that many persons lack access to modern devices that would improve their quality of life, adding that it is disheartening that something of basic necessity can deny people to enjoy their lives.