As part of the state government’s poverty reduction strategy, the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) has equipped 250 Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA) women with new skill sets through a four-week entrepreneurship skills acquisition training programme.
The Commissioner for WAPA, Mrs. Cecilia Bolaji Dada, stated at the recent closing ceremony of the training programme held at Command Day Secondary School Hall, Ikeja, that the programme was in line with Governor Sanwo-Olu’s administration’s renewed effort to ease the participants’ challenges and improve their financial status.
In her words: “The present administration under the leadership of Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu understands that skills acquisition training is a vital tool to mitigating the effects of poverty prevalent amongst women. Hence, the state government has initiated several programmes to ease the plights of women residents, including military officers’ wives, in a bid to make them contributors to the socio-economic development of the State”.
While congratulating the beneficiaries, Dada charged them to embrace continuous learning to become masters of their crafts in order to remain relevant in their chosen fields, saying “I encourage you to find new ways of acquiring more knowledge and sharpening your skills, so that you can compete favourably with both local and international competitors”.
She advised interested state residents, particularly unemployed or underemployed people, to take advantage of the state government’s 19 Skills Acquisition Centres located throughout the city to enrol in tuition-free vocational training programmes for a period of six to twelve months in order to become empowered and financially independent.
In his address, Brigadier General Isangubong Akpamontia, who was represented by Major Tarela Emuren, thanked the Ministry for its effort to improve the welfare of NAOWA members in Lagos.
He said: “I am very impressed by what WAPA has done for NAOWA. I, therefore, urge the beneficiaries to take full advantage of the acquired skills to improve their families’ well-being and the military community in general”.
Mrs. NdidiAmaka Akpamontia, Coordinator of the short-term skills acquisition training programme for Command Day Secondary School, commended the Lagos State Government for its ongoing efforts to empower Military Officers’wives and vulnerable women in the metropolitan area.
“WAPA understands the saying that ‘when you empower a woman, you have empowered a home’, therefore I am immensely grateful for this opportunity which is geared towards improving the lives of our members”, she said
Similarly, WAPA recently ended a four-week skills acquisition training programme for 250 women from the Lagos State Chapter of the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) in nine tuition-free occupations at the POWA Hall, GRA Ikeja.
Mrs. Cecilia Bolaji Dada, State Commissioner for WAPA, said that the program’s main purpose was to improve the lives of the spouses of Police Officers in Lagos State in an effort to make them financial contributors to the welfare of their families and dependents.
Certificates of Completion and Starter Packs for Wig Making and Hair Braiding, Make-Up and Gele Tying, Tie and Dye, Catering and Confectionaries, Garments Stoning, Pomade Making, Insecticide and Stove Wick, Ankara Craft, and Interior Decoration, among others, were given to each graduate.
Two of the beneficiaries of the training programmes, Josephine Ijeh and Amametu Abdul, expressed their gratitude to the Lagos State Government for the programme, saying “We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to have learnt these crafts free of charge and we call on others to take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the Sanwo-Olu’s administration to acquire vocational skills and be self-dependent”.