Education
Source: Nigerian Tribune
INADEQUATE funding has been identified as one of the major challenges confronting the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Abuja, in the implementation of its mandate, especially in the area of training and empowerment of women.
The Director-General of the centre, Ms Onyeka Onwenu, made the disclosure at the graduation ceremony of over 600 students of the centre’s vocational skills acquisition training programme.
But she noted that despite the poor funding and other challenges, the centre, since her assumption of office, had undergone visible changes.
“Despite the challenges and inadequate funding, we have resolved to be more focused; not to falter, until NCWD is placed on the global agenda as a true centre of excellence for gender equity and sustainable women development.
“Keying into the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, the centre will continue to ensure that women and the girl-child have opportunity to develop skills in different vocations of their interests, to meet the challenges of unemployment and economic development in the country.
“Charged with this resolve the centre is looking inwards and is redesigning its programmes to cater for the needs of all segments of the society,” she said.
She stated that the ultimate goal of these programmes is to reduce poverty and create financial independence, noting that these programmes are carried out through broad-based, flexible approach that promotes the holistic development of competencies.
Onwenu also stated that the centre is also working in the rural communities where the majority of the womenfolk reside, and in collaboration with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), to ensure that women development centres in all the 36 states of the federation as well as the 774 local government areas, including the Federal Capital Territory, are put back to their original use – which is the empowerment and development of women in those localities.
The NCWD, she said, is equally moving into training in non-traditional areas for women to ensure that women are exposed to a wider range of choices that would enable them benefit from government’s development efforts. Such areas include plumbing, tiling, generator and air conditioner repairs.
Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, commended the commitment of the centre in addressing issues of women economic empowerment and poverty reduction.
Represented by the Director, Women Affairs Department in the ministry, Mrs Iran Ajulor, the minister noted that these “courses are designed to build up skills, acquire appropriate knowledge and improve the vocational and entrepreneurial capacities of women. This ultimately translates to financial and economic independence, enhanced family incomes, wealth creation and poverty reduction.”
In his goodwill message, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, said employment creation had been mainstreamed into various sectors of the economy and that his ministry had been mandated to drive policies that promote the “goals of full employment as a priority in the socio-economic life, strive to ensure that all men and women who are available to work, attain secured and sustainable livelihood through full, productive and freely-chosen professions.”
He called on youths to take advantage of its skills certificate programme, the SURE-P TVET programme, which strives to bridge the gap between available skills and acquired skills to reduce unemployment.