The Christ’s Outreach on Disabilities (CODISA) Foundation has partnered Google to train over 30 visually-impaired students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on effective use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Android devices to improve their lives and make them less dependent.
The training, which was held in Lagos on Monday, 28 July, 2025, had Google staff, CODISA members and other visually-impaired working class individuals in attendance.
Speaking at the event, CODISA Leader Prince Olaoluwa Awojoodu, noted that the training was informed by the need to assist visually- impaired individuals to be independent and improve their access to general services.
“This training is for the visually-impaired for the Android device. So, for example, if I’m going to train someone that is hearing-impaired, it will not be the same training, because they can see the Android phone, these ones cannot see it. So it’s about how do they effectively use their devices, that’s the focus of this training,” he said.
He underscored the commitment of the foundation to transforming lives, stating that it had impacted over 10,000 people that have special needs since it was established in 1984.
“So we deal with 40 homes as of today. We have 40 homes that we sponsor and we have been doing this for over 40 years,” he added.
Director Google West Africa Region, Olumide Balogun, expressed delight to be in partnership with CODISA to carry out the technology training to help visually-impaired persons to have access to their phone, artificial intelligence in a way that it can benefit their life, their purpose and by extension, the society.
“The team here at Google, we’re always looking for where we can really step in and support and make a meaningful difference.
“So Google Serve is an activity that we carry out every year. Where we think about our communities and say, where can we serve? Where can we go physically, not just from the office, but where can we go physically and serve.
“And for us, you know, we just thought it was a natural fit for us to come and spend time with our brothers and our sisters and really bring the power of technology to them. So we’re very excited to be here doing this training today,” he said.
Google Search Partnerships Lead for Sub-Saharan Africa, Ugochi Agoreyo, who took the group through sessions on utilising their phones and AI effectively, explained that the practicals would help them to navigate their phones through talking back to the phones, as opposed to using hand prompts and improve their everyday life with Android devices and AI.
“We’ve introduced them to some accessibility tools on their Android called Voice Access, Reading Mode, and TalkBack. This can help them to access their devices and control their devices through voice access, through Reading Mode, help them read their screens with Reading Mode on Android, and then TalkBack also helps them to navigate their phones through talking back to the phones, as opposed to using hand prompts.
“We’ve also introduced them to how AI can support them in learning and in navigating their environment, the environment around them. So, for that we introduced them to Gemini, Gemini 2.5 Flash, which has an audio ability for them to find information from anywhere around the world by just talking into the Gemini app.
“The second thing on Gemini 2.5 flash is called Gemini Live which helps them navigate their environment around them. So once they activate Gemini Live and activate the camera it becomes their eyes. They can ask it to scan the room and tell them what it sees. It can help them read anything that the eye sees in the environment like signs so that they are safe and understand where they’ve gotten into,” she added.
Olumide Oladimeji, a 300-Level Political Science student at UNILAG, praised the facilitators for bring his age long dream to reality, adding the training has opened his eyes to important things.
“It’s a wonderful one. In fact, the thought of Google having to come here has been one of my lifelong dreams. I’ve really, really been hoping that I would be a consultant, an accessibility consultant, working with Google, having to bring about new features and accessibility,” he stated.
