Lagos State Government on Tuesday empowered 1,050 vulnerable women and indigent residents toward alleviating poverty in the state.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, made this known in Ikeja during the Mega Empowerment Programme for Vulnerable Women and Indigent Residents facilitated by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA).
The beneficiaries received business support equipment such as grinding machines, sewing machines, hairdryers, barbers clippers with generators, pop corn machines, among others.
Sanwo-Olu said that the provision of the empowerment items was to fulfil one of the pledges made to Lagosians at the inception of his administration.
He said that the pledge was to focus on fighting poverty through the implementation of socio-economic empowerment programmes targeted at vulnerable women and indigent residents of the state.
According to him, one of the key functions of government is to bring the greatest good to the greatest number of the people.
”Living in poverty, or on the edge of poverty, is akin to being submerged in water, struggling to stay afloat.
”Poverty alleviation seeks to ensure that every person in the water is helped out, onto a boat, where they can then get a chance to take charge of their lives and their journeys henceforth.
”What we are doing here today therefore is lending a hand, to pull the most vulnerable people among us out of the water, in line with our campaign promises and with the manifesto of our great party, the All Progressives Congress.
”Today, over 1,050 Lagosians made up of vulnerable women, indigent residents, as well as graduates of skills acquisition centres will be receiving requisite support to lift them out of poverty and set them firmly on the journey to financial/economic independence,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu said that women constituted an overwhelming majority of the vulnerable segment of the population.
He said that this realisation greatly reinforced government’s determination to ensure that women empowerment stayed high up on the administration’s list of priorities.
The governor said that any society that failed to harness the full potential of its female population was guilty of short-changing itself.
”When we empower our women and enable them to realise their deepest ambitions, we are not just helping women, we are actually helping ourselves as well – by which I mean the entire society.
”This Mega Empowerment Programme is meant to cover all the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state. No part of Lagos will be left out.
”Beneficiaries will receive, in addition to financial support, business support tools and equipment, like grinding machines, hair dressing tools, sewing machines, tyre repair kits, and so on.
”This programme will complement various other policies and programmes we are implementing to raise the standard of living of our people, and banish poverty from Lagos State,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu said that in addition to the work of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, the government would be upgrading vocational training centres across the state, to enable them properly fulfil their mandate as citadels of training and skills acquisition.
He urged beneficiaries of the Mega Empowerment Programme to make judicious use of the resources to kick-start new businesses or grow existing ones, as the case may be.
Sanwo-Olu said that the individual successes would no doubt translate to success for the households and families, for the economy of Lagos State, and of Nigeria at large.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Cecilia Dada, said that the state government had put in place various lofty policies and programmes aimed at raising the standard of living of Lagosians.
Dada said that the ministry through its short and long term vocational training programmes had continued to train thousands of Lagosians, particularly women, on different skills.
She said the beneficiaries of the training were provided with startup kits such as sewing machines, hair dressing tools, among others.
According to her, the provision of these start-ups tools has aided beneficiaries in becoming self employed, self-reliant and employers of labour, ultimately elevating their standard of living and all these are done free of charge.
”Today’s programme is meant to take care of the needs of vulnerable women and indigent residents in all the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas in the state.
”It involves distribution of empowennent materials like Grinding Machines, Sewing machines, Hairdryers, Barbers Clipper with Generators ‚Pop Corn Machines amongst others and 1050 people will be benefitting.
”I wish to state that there are 17 functional skills acquisition centres under the supervision of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
”No fewer than 20 vocations such as hairdressing and cosmetology, catering and hotel management, computer training, textile designing/hats making/ beads stringing, barbing, printing technology, shoe making and leatherworks, furniture and woodwork, to mention but a few, are being taught,” she said.
