Founders' Profile

Ikechukwu Cosmas Blaise Okoli was born in 1962. He lost the use of his legs to polio after his fourth birthday. He was lucky to get an education because he resolved early in life to live a full and productive life, in spite of disability. He also had the good fortune of having an enlightened father, who happened to be the headmaster of his hometown primary school. At the school he crawled on all fours, in the absence of appropriate mobility aids, enduring endless derogatory name calling by his peers. A flair for problem solving enabled him to improve on his leg braces, as a secondary school pupil in the mid-1970s. He exerted himself to ensure his independence and soon developed a device that enabled him to drive conventional cars.

An avid sportsman, he and other disabled peers were the earliest known participants, organizers, promoters and administrators of sports for Nigerians with disabilities; having discovered its physiological and integrative benefits. He played wheelchair table tennis, representing Nigeria internationally. He won silver medal at the 1990 World Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games in England and the inaugural 1991 All Africa Games for the Disabled in Egypt among others.

His dream to crown his career with a Paralympics gold medal was aborted when he was compelled to take up the mantle of leadership of Special Sports Federation of Nigeria (SSFN), making him the first person with disability to head the SSFN. He held the office from 1995 – 2001 and led the Nigerian delegation to the Atlanta ’96 and Sydney 2000 Paralympics. The unprecedented medals haul at Sydney is unrivalled by any contingent of Nigerian athletes to date. A winner of several awards at state and federal level, he was offered automatic employment into the Nigerian federal civil service on account of his winning the President’s National NYSC Honors Award. A passion and zeal for an outlet to share his innovations with over 20 million Nigerians with disabilities saw him resign from the civil service to start up MAARDEC in 1991.

MAARDEC’s vision of rehabilitation is holistic and synergic. Its activities encompass: provision of innovative and affordable mobility aids and appliances to enable the disabled move about independently; free guidance and counseling services; mentoring and strategic empowerment summits; skill acquisition, job creation (50% of MAARDEC staff are persons with disabilities); advocacy through Association for Comprehensive Empowerment of Nigerians with Disability (ASCEND) (visit www.ascendnigeria.com), public enlightenment; promotion and encouragement of the disabled to participate in sports; provision of free mobility aids and appliances to indigent persons with disabilities; provision of physiotherapy services, partnership with other civil society organizations and corporate bodies to empower persons with disabilities, organization of Ms. Wheelchair Nigeria Pageant (visit www.mswheelchairnigeria.com) etc.

A graduate of medical physiology, he has attended several gatherings of social entrepreneurs and blue chip corporations around the world; including several editions of the World Economic Forum. He attended an executive course in Strategic Perspective in Non-profit Management at Harvard Business School. An Ashoka Fellow since 1991, he is also a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur.
He is a holder of the Nigerian National Honors Award of Officer of the Order of the Niger (O.O.N). He is married with four children.