Lagos trains over 5,000 women in 12 months

The Lagos state government has revealed that 5,159 female students have undergone different vocations training in its various Skill Acquisition Centres across the state in the last one year.

Disclosing this at the ongoing Ministerial Press briefing at Bagauda Kaltho, Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, in commemoration of the 3rd Year in Office of governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Lola Akande, stated that to tackle the unemployment structure of women in the State, the government has organised short and long-term vocational training programmes for women; young female, widows, vulnerable and disabled women across the state.

According to her, in a bid to intensify the efforts of the state government to ensure every citizen, irrespective of their social status and condition, benefits from the series of intervention programmes and employment opportunities across the State, the government has continued to upgrade and expand the existing Skills Acquisition Centres.

While reeling out the achievements of the state government on women emancipation, economic progress and empowerment, the Commissioner affirmed that the participation of the Ministry at the 62nd Session of the Commission on the status of women at the UN Headquarters in New York offered the State government the sustainable model to reform the affairs of women.

Akande disclosed further that 300 women were exposed to digital entrepreneurial training to acquaint them with the modern method of marketing their products and compete with their contemporaries in the business world.

“To support the vision and invest in the future of girls and young women, the Ministry participated in the 2018 Olave Baden-Powell Society Conference held at Tokyo in Japan.

This served as a forum to explore changes that assist young women to interact and develop their full potentials as a responsible world citizen who will lead their communities, countries and raise their voice on issues that concern them,” she enthused.

She also revealed that in the past one year, the Ministry has handled 1,313 domestic violence matters, out of which 1,055 were amicably resolved while some other cases were disengaged from the Ministry’s services due to family interventions.

The Commissioner added that government is not reneging in investing in women empowerment, skills acquisition programmes, access to loans and provision of working tools to enable them better their lives and become self-sufficient to contribute to the economic development of the State and the Nation as a whole.

In her remark at the event, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Abiola Liadi, encouraged women to seize the enormous opportunities provided by the state government to empower themselves and become responsible for the progress of the state.