A professor of Ophthalmology, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Dr. Abdulraheem Mahmoud, has said that about one million Nigerians are blind.

He added that majority of these blind people were illiterates with female preponderance, who also resided in the poorer parts of the country particularly in the North-East geo-political zone.

Mahmoud spoke while delivering the 101 inaugural lecture titled, 'The sights and rights of the blind,' in UNILORIN on Friday.

He stated that worldwide, there were 37 million blind persons.

According to him, most of the blind people should not have gone blind in the first instance, if what he described as the collective society had not failed in its social responsibility.

He said there were blind individuals whose sight could be restored using existing knowledge and curative technology. He added that when all efforts had failed and the person remained incurable, it was the person's right to live a productive life in dignity.

The consultant said there was the need to design appropriate eye health messages. He added that such messages should be widely disseminated in a sustained manner that should be facilitated by all stakeholders, particularly the federal and states' ministries of health and non-governmental organisations.

"Cataract, which constitutes half of the causes of blindness and the most cost-effective health intervention, should be specially targeted for control through a coordinated nationwide mobile cataract surgery programme.