Uche Amunike
The Federal Government has just wrapped up a 5-day training and empowerment programme for rural women in Enugu state.
It was an initiative powered through the office of the Director General, National Centre for Women Development, Hon. Dr Asabe Vilita Bashir, which trained and empowered about 130 women in the state.
The beneficiaries were drawn from the 17 Local Government Areas of the state and were given funds to start off their business ventures even as some others received start-up employment items.
The DG, Hon. Asabe Bashir stated that the empowerment program was in line with the fulfilment of the Federal Government’s promise to lift many families out of poverty.
Speaking, during the programme, Mrs Nneka Elonu, who represented the Director General, said, that the COVID-19 pandemic left so many homes displaced which was what formed the reason why the President Buhari-led Government decided to initiate the programme in order to cushion the economic effects it placed on such homes.
She said,’ We are all aware that with the onset of COVID-19, issues of gender-based violence worsened as families lost means of livelihood. That is why the Federal Government considered empowering the women across the country. Enugu women are today, proud beneficiaries’.
She did explain that her friend, Hon Mrs Ginika Tor was an indigene of Enugu state. Tor is Commissioner representing Enugu State at the Federal Character Commission. She was particularly overjoyed that the women from Tor’s state were beneficiaries of the empowerment programme.
‘The women were trained on catering and tailoring, so today they have been empowered to start up their businesses’.
‘I urge them to sustain the confidence reposed on them by making good use of this opportunity’, Bashir concluded.
Also speaking, the Commissioner representing Enugu State in Federal Character Commission, FCC, Hon. Mrs.Ginika Tor said the empowerment was a further demonstration of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s commitment to the welfare of the people’.
She went on to state that the government was not playing politics with the empowerment programme maintaining that the beneficiaries were drawn from across political and religious divides, referring to it as all-inclusive and not one-sided as was usually the case.
She expressed her happiness at the initiative, describing it as noble, seeing that it will change the lives of several women for good.
In her words, ‘we have seen today that a great Nigeria is possible. The future is bright. It is looking good’.
She called on stakeholders to ensure that such programs are taken down to the rural dwellers anytime the opportunity came, while frowning against the fact that women were always marginalized. She condemned such act and encourage them to do all they could, to lift women from poverty.
The Enugu State Commissioner for Gender and Women Development, Hon. Princess Peace Nnaji, during her remarks, gave the Federal Government a thumbs-up for the initiative.
