NAFOWA TAKES WELFARE CAMPAIGN TO NORTH EAST, EMPOWERS 155 YOUTHS AND WOMEN
The Nigerian Air Force Officers' Wives Association (NAFOWA) on Saturday graduated 155 beneficiaries of her Skill Acquisition and Vocational Training Programme in Maiduguri. The beneficiaries comprised 80 youths and 75 women including widows and orphans who lost their breadwinners to the fight against the Boko Haram insurgents. The 3-month programme aims to empower the beneficiaries with requisite skills to make them self-reliant and be able to cater for themselves and their dependants. Training was provided in ten vocational areas comprising computer studies, aluminium fabrication, leather shoes and bags making, bead making, tailoring and hairdressing. Others are make-up artistry, catering and baking, events decoration and laundry items production. Today's graduation ceremony in Maiduguri is the forth in the series of such empowerment programmes undertaken by NAFOWA in recent times. Similar welfare campaigns have been conducted before now in Kaduna, Lagos and Makurdi as part of NAFOWA efforts to reach out to the less privileged in the society in line with the Association's motto of 'Service to Humanity'.
Meanwhile the NAFOWA vocational programme has been identified as complementing the effort by Federal Government to curb unemployment. The Honourable Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Aisha Jummai Alhassan made the remarks in her address during the graduation ceremony, noting that the capacity building initiative came at a time when the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is placing emphasis on the need to encourage women and youth to be self-sufficient. Consequently, she enjoined NAFOWA members and the beneficiaries of her skill acquisition programme to explore the several avenues available to access start-up or scale up capital for their businesses. Such funds, she said include, the Business Fund for Women (BODFOW) and Women Fund for Economic Empowerment (WOFEE) which were recently initiated by her ministry in collaboration with the Bank of Agriculture under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP). These programmes, she said, would help to further enhance the successes of the NAFOWA programme.