Blindness is the absence or loss of the ability to see or the power of seeing or the faculty of vision. Worldwide, there are 45 million blind people, and this number could double in twenty years. For every minute that you spend reading this piece, twelve previously sighted persons, including a child, would become blind in the world. Among the causes of blindness are industrial/occupational accidents, cataract, trachoma, onchocerchiasis, childhood blindness, refractive errors and low vision. Others include such systemic diseases as HIV/AIDS, diabetes and hypertension. Blindness -especially in developing poor countries is compounded by the lack of resouces, political will and adequate baseline data on its prevalence and causes, which are needed to produce reliable national databases and programmes. , Vision 2020 - the right to sight, is aimed at increasing the awareness of blindness as a major public health issue. Unnecessary blindness is described as a blindness that should not have been, that could have been prevented and or controlled. From this writer’s experience in providing industrial/occupational vision services, uncorrected visual problems cause accidents and death in the workplace, during sports and social activities, and even at home. Blindness and low vision from whatever cause(s) are visual impairments that constitute considerable socioeconomic strains on both the individual and nation. Therefore, the need to understand the magnitude, geographical distribution and causes of blindness within communities, countries and regions, is essential for the design of effective intervention programmes. The time has come for visual impairment detection, prevention and management to be moved onto our community and national health agendas beyond rhetoric, through the ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL EYE CARE PLAN FOR NIGERIA