…Trainees Receives N10m Take-Off Grant
By Inusa Ndahi, Maiduguri
The Multisectoral Crisis Recovery Project , MCRP in collaboration with the Borno State government and the state Ministry of Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, RRR, have collaborated to train 500 vulnerable women in the production, packaging and marketing of household products, such as petroleum jelly, hair cream, detergent, soaps, air fresheners, among others.
The intensive training, which took a period of two weeks, led to the graduation of the beneficiaries, who are expected to cascade it down to the downtrodden, as each were supported with N20,000, as Take-Off Grant, totaling making N10 million.
The training held at No. 3 Ghani House, along Sir Kashim Ibrahim Road, in Maiduguri.
Beneficiaries of the training programme, who are mainly female-headed households and young girls affected by the over a decade insurgency, were carefully screened and selected by the training partners, Bilkhad and Na’ish Trainers, and are drawn from six host communities of Shuwari, Mairi, Fori, Mashamari, Gamboru and Shehuri, in Jere and Maiduguri Metropolotan Council, MMC.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the state Project Coordinator for Borno State Multisecotral Crisis Recovery Project,MCRP, Baba Zanna Abdulkarim, commended both the trainers for making positive impact on the lives of the trainees and the participants for their commitment to learn means of livelihood for the benefit of their respective families.
Urging them to forget the past and face their future with positive hope and commitment to excel, he said that the project sponsored their training to give them hope, sense of belonging and create jobs that will enable them earn means of sustainable income to avert poverty and social vices associated with joblessness in the society.
He advised them to form cooperative groups based on the trades, promising that the project will link them to micro finance banks to enable them access soft loans by serving as guarantor and secure shops for them through the state Ministry of Women Affairs to create linkage to market.
On his part, the Shehu of Borno, Dr, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, represented by the District Head of Maisandari ward, Alhaji Abba Bukar, extolled the efforts of the Borno State government and the MCRP for focusing on female-headed households and young girls affected by the insurgency.
He said that women remain the worst victims of the insurgency, unfortunately, not many projects focus on them.
Describing the training as life changing, the Shehu also said that women, being the nucleus of the family unit, need such trainings and urged the women to consider trading as part of Borno’s cultural context, instead of allowing men to override them in business and small scale trading activities.
On its part the lead consultant of Bilkahd, Suleiman Dauda and that of Na’Ish, Aisha Musa Kida, said the participants were selected out of over 5,000 women-victims of insurgency in the host communities, being the poorest of the poor.
The essence of the training, they said, is to give change to their lives by teaching them how to make basic household products, packaging and marketing of household products such as petroleum jelly, hair cream, detergent, washing and both soap, liquid soap and air fresheners among others to earn their living and reduce poverty amongst them, guard their chastity, self-reliant and support their respective families.
This, he said, is the first set to graduate out of the 5,000 billed for similar training across the state.
The founder of Na’ish Skill Acquisition, Aisha Musa Kidah, said that all the raw materials are locally sourced without any foreign product, adding that each of the 500 beneficiaries will be given N20,000 as business take-off grant to commence production in their trade groups of twenty women each.
One of the graduands, Hussaina Usman Abdulkadir, said that the training has given them sigh of relief and hope for future prosperity, even as she expressed appreciation to the trainers, MCRP, and the Borno State government for the huge support rendered to them.
Highpoint of the event was the presentation of certificates and take off grants to the graduands.
