NDE begins 5-day training workshop for unemployed women in Cross River
AKPAN WILLIAMS, CALABAR
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has commenced a five-day training on shoe and bag making including fabrics for unemployed women across the 18 Local government Areas of Cross River State.
Flagging off the program the Director General of NDE Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, during the opening ceremony of the training stated that the whole idea was to boost the capacity of women in job creation and reduce the unemployment rate in the state and the country at large.
Fikpo who was represented by the Cross River State Coordinator of NDE, Gabe Udam said this on Wednesday in Calabar during the flag-off event.
His words, he said “The 1st phase of the training was simultaneously held in the 19 Northern States and the FCT between the 27th and 31st March 2023 while the 2nd phase is now holding in the 17 Southern States of the Country.
According to records, a total of Seven Hundred and Forty (740) women have been selected nationwide with an equal number of Twenty (20) women per state”
“The Women Employment Branch (WEB), a platform of the Small Scale Enterprises Department is responsible for undertaking this training that is commencing today which the objective is to design income generating activities for women to generate mass employment and reduce poverty amongst women”
“In line with this, I am glad to inform you that in the year 2022, the Directorate through WEB kick-started the training in income-generating activities in skills such as Decorative Painting Making, Embroidery (stone/beads on clothes), Perfumery, Organic Products, Extraction of Natural Organic oil, Spice/ Seasoning Production, Turban (Headgear) making, Event Decoration, Makeup & Gele and Rafia Works.
“The products and services emanating from these skills are in high demand, therefore we expect our beneficiaries to be doing well in their current endeavors.
Fikpo said that the Directorate through its intervention programs and schemes had created over one million direct jobs for women of all categories through skills acquisition and entrepreneurial training opportunities.
Maintaining that, the directorate has also provided a platform for women who have benefitted from its numerous skills acquisition training to gain international exposure and network through participation in local and international Trade Fairs. He called on the beneficiaries of the training to listen attentively to their trainers and practice whatever they were being taught, at home.
According to him, “Do not let your domestic duties serve as a distraction to you; create time to practice, as practice makes perfect.
“Ultimately, I desire that you become self-employed thereby increasing the wealth and dignity of your family.”
