The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in collaboration with the pet project of the wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, Future Assured, have empowered 2, 200 Women in various income generating skills.
Speaking during the programme in Lagos, Mrs Buhari said the economic empowerment programme was significant and would address the five goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)- poverty, no hunger, gender equality, good jobs and economic growth.
She said, ”On Sept.10 in Kastina, when I launched the first phase of this programme, I made a pledge to Nigerian women to take this training to all nooks and crannies of this country.
”This programme will enhance the economic power and standard of our women, as well as get our women involved in activities that will enable them to engage in profitable economic ventures.
She said further that, “The occasion is significant because the status of women with the attendant economic imbalance between men and women in various professions and economic pursuit have generated a lot of debate. A lot of attention needs to be paid to the needs of women who constitute a major bloc of the vulnerable group in the society especially at the a time like this when our national economy in experiencing challenges.”
Also speaking, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, wife of the Vice President, commended Buhari for the project, urging women to take advantage of the training to better their lives. ”She wants us women to be self-employed so that we can be economically stable in our homes and the nation at large, ” Osinbajo said.
In his address, Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, said that entrepreneurship and small scale businesses were key to eradicating poverty and sustaining economic growth.
Speaking earlier, the Acting Director General of the NDE, Mr. Kunle Obayan, reiterated the commitment of the Directorate to impact the woman folk across the country by creating a pool of female small scale business owners who will play an active role towards a diversified Nigerian economy.
He said, “ The aim of this project is to impart the woman folk through quick income yielding vocational skills set that will empower them to step out quickly from the circle of mass unemployment and poverty.”
While he praised the wife of the President, who he said has immensely supported the worthy course of women empowerment through her pet project the Future Assured, he reiterated that the statutory mandate of NDE demands that the Directorate works towards the provision of mass employment opportunities to all classes of the unemployed across Nigeria.
“We have been delivering on this mandate over the years through our popular four-core programmes namaly: Vocational Skills Development Programme, Rural Employment Promotion, Special Public Works, and the Small Scale Enterprises Programme.
“Under the Small Scale Enterprises Programme, the Directorate, though ever gender sensitive in its programme implementations, deliberately established a special branch named the Woman Employment Branch (WEB) which is specially designed to cater to the employment needs of women in the form of specialised skills acquisition and business ideas that will enable them become self-employed and ultimately, employers of labour.
“Three months ago in Katsina, the Directorate in conjunction with the Future Assured launched the first phase where we trained over 200 women and today, we are inaugurating the same programme with a total of 2,200 women.” He said.
Going by its mission statement, the National Directorate of Employment should centrally coordinate job creation and youth empowerment in the country. The consequence of too many job intervention scheme is that it has resulted in lack of coordination and less results.
