… Reveals Plans To Complete 3 Additional Skills Acquisition Centres
The Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Bolaji Dada, has disclosed that the ministry has improved the living standards of over 9,000 residents, who have benefitted from its various training and skills acquisition programmes in the past year.
Giving an insight into her scorecard in commemoration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s first year in officer, Mrs Dada revealed that apart from affecting the lives of the beneficiaries directly, the standard of living of thousands of their dependants have equally been affected positively.
She said that the various training sessions cover short and long-term vocational training programmes, digital training, as well as online sales and marketing skills acquisition.
The commissioner disclosed that apart from the 6,300 students, who graduated from the 18 skills acquisition centres across the state last year, over 150 rural women were trained in agricultural enterprise; 500 women benefited from online marketing while over 2,200 vulnerable women were equally trained and equipped with start-up packs.
Revealing plans to create an additional three vocational and skills training centres and certification programmes for women, in addition to the already existing 18 centres, Mrs Dada added that the three new centres located in Ibeshe, Eredo and Agidingbi would be completed to further expand the reach of its various empowerment initiatives.
She said, “Generally speaking, we have positively salvaged many homes that would have gone comatose because of financial issues. We have empowered more women to be financially independent, thereby saving them from ridicule or domestic violence or sexual abuses emanating from joblessness and poverty.
“In January this year alone, we distributed empowerment materials to over 1,100 vulnerable women during a Mega Empowerment Programme; we carried out free medical screening programmes on HIV/AIDS, Cervical Cancer, Breast Cancer, Sight Screening etc. for over 500 women, in partnership with non-governmental organisations, among several other interventions.”
She further disclosed that the ministry joined in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 by producing 450,000 facemasks and distributing over 30,000 hand sanitisers, which were distributed freely to members of the public.
She noted that the ministry is also working with WAPA Supervisory Councillors in all local governments to distribute palliatives to widows through their associations across the state.
