The Nation Newspaper

Tag: empowering

  • Why we are empowering the vulnerable

    Why we are empowering the vulnerable

    Mrs Lawal Charanchi is the coordinator of the Service to Humanity Foundation, the non-governmental organisation set up by the first lady of Katsina State to cater to and empower women and the vulnerable in the state. He explained to Adetutu Audu what the foundation has done so far in complementing the state government’s effort to reduce poverty in the state.

    Hajiya Fatima Ibrahim Shema, wife of Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema, has many cards up her sleeve when it comes to humanitarian activities. Easy going and intelligent, she is one of the African women immensely blessed with the milk of human kindness, reason which she was recently conferred with the Most Valuable Governor’s Wife in Nigeria.

    She has not only made her humanitarian impact felt in the capital city of Katsina, she and her team have in the last six years taken arduous trips across the length and breadth of Katsina to give hope to the hopeless and empower thousands of rural women.

    Though not involved personally, she set up the foundation to aggressively address poverty in the state. Lawal Charanchi, the coordinator of the programme revealled that the programme has been a continuous exercise since the present administration came into power. ‘The empowerment programme cuts across all the 34 local government areas.’  He added that all materials distributed to the women were a normal routine here in the state because the state government views women empowerment as something very important as the contributions of women in community development cannot be underestimated.

    Women in the state are continuously being empowered so that they can give their maximum contributions to the economic development of this state. The programme which is in conjunction with the state government represented by the ministry of women affairs is in many stages.

    In his words: ‘there is the area of capacity building that is giving them training in their chosen skills acquisition and in the area of supporting them after graduating. Apart from acquiring skills, the first lady, through the foundation, supports them by giving them all the necessary equipments and tools needed in their chosen skills and then add an additional N50, 000 so that they can begin their new life effortlessly without any hindrance,’ she noted.

    But apart from occasional assistance by the state government, from which other sources does the foundation generate revenue to carry out its various programmes, since it is capital intensive? Charanchi disclosed that the foundation works with so many international donor agencies, as well as local ones; so it is able to leverage on support in terms of materials, financial and technical. Her Excellency, Dr Fatimah Ibrahim Shema, she noted, is able to harness so much resources with which to conduct the activities since 2008.

    The centres since then had been imparting vocational skills to women and even men in soap making, shoe making, foam making, catering, and knitting, among others. The centre also recently in collaboration with NAPEF national sponsored some women  to South Africa  to acquire skills in cream making, shea butter production and moringa production and in return, they can train as many women as they can.

    With the success recorded so far, what were the criteria for selecting the beneficiaries of the programme? Initially, Charanchi said the target were widows, female orphans and children, and instead of just giving them nutrition support, clothing and other things, the foundation decided to develop the vocational skills for those women, so that they would be able to take care of themselves and their orphan children. So, the issue of having some educational qualification does not arise; education is not considered at all. ‘I think vulnerability is the most important criterion here. We are after empowering the vulnerable because once they are taken care of economically, they will spread the empowerment to others, and once that is done, it reduces crime and increases economic activities and we are all better for it. It is a win-win situation here. Once the hands are doing something, it can’t be workshop for any evil,’ he pointed out.

    By early this year, Charanchi stated that various acquisition centres across the state have trained over 6800 of these women. The foundation has a monitoring unit which from time to time assesses the work of the trainees as well as to give additional support. ‘Sometimes when you go, there could be problems and challenges faced by these trainees. You try to know the challenges so you can advise them on how to move forward. For example, a lady trainee or a widow trainee who eventually marries or remarries, some abandon the project because of the new marriage, but more importantly because of the new comfort derived from the new marriage or husbands. While the trainees may be facing one challenge or the other, the foundation too has its own, and that is the area of recovery of loan to the trainees. This is one area that we are concerned about. While some of them are judiciously using the loan facility, I must say that recovery same is very low. But that is expected anyway. Our joy in all this is that we are impacting lives,’ he declared.

  • Why empowering women farmers is critical

    United Kingdom-based charity, Oxfam Nigeria, said supporting female growers will empower them to change their lives and members of their communities.

    Speaking in Lagos, Gender Officer in charge of the campaign in Nigeria, Boyowa Roberts, said it was the key to lifting women farmers who face gross inequalities, producing 50 per cent of the food, yet owning few per cent of legally titled land.

    She said women faced unequal access to credit and agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertiliser, which lowers their yields relative to men. Roberts said with access to resources, rural women can drive positive change in their communities.

    She said women farmers need to have the same access as men to resources and inputs for agricultural productivity to rise sharply.

    Reversing the inequities facing rural women, she noted, would break cycles of poverty and hunger. For this reason, she said the group is focusing on rural women, saying they hold the key to ensuring food and nutrition security. She said Oxfam Nigeria is empowering women through its partners to have access to a credit system that provides small loans.

    She said the organisation would make public the list of female food heroes in Nigeria, who have excelled in agriculture and provided jobs.

    “Oxfam wants to celebrate and recognise the powerful voice that women can have in Nigeria in changing our food system. We want to share the stories of women we know who are changing the injustices of the food system and challenging the inequities of the rights of women – these are our Female Food Heroes,” she said.

    Roberts noted that the award aims at celebrating small scale women farmers, adding that Oxfam is collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development to ensure the credibility of the nomination process for the award.

    She said a team would be set up to determine farmers that are registered with the Ministries and other cooperatives under the Association of Small Scale Agro Producers in Nigeria.

    Boyowa further said on determining the criteria for nomination, the public would nominate female farmers by through either snail mail or via Oxfam’s mail portal.

    “It could be an independent nomination or by someone who thinks a female farmer is doing very well in the community, but the team will cross check and evaluate most of the entries made,” she said.

    Economic Justice Campaign Manager, Horn East and Central Africa Oxfam International, Marc Wegerif, bemoaned the situation among smallholder women farmers, insisting that there was need for extension and training services targeting smallholder women farmers in order to improve their productivity.

    He emphasised that these programmes must be complemented with improved access to inputs and markets if they are to have a lasting impact on farmers’ livelihoods.

    With the right support, Wegerif said smallholder women farmers can identify their needs, package relevant messages and effectively communicate them to policy makers.

    Media Officer for Oxfam, Safiya Akau, said there is need to establish local-level dialogue platforms that capture the voice of women farmers in the process of policy formulation and implementation.

    She revealed that as part of this effort, the National Female Food Hero Award, which is celebrated annually by the organisation has been slated for October 15, this year – a date which coincides with the International Rural Women’s Day celebration.

    Mrs. Medinato Oyinloye Bolatito, a farmer from Oyo Local Government Area of Oyo State, seized the opportunity to commend Oxfam for the empowerment so far provided to small scale farmers.

    “Oxfam has taken issues bothering us to the Agricultural Committee of our State House of Assembly for discussion,” she said.

    Noting that challenges still exist for small scale farmers, she called on Nigerians to help female farmers.

  • Empowering youths for job prospects

    Empowering youths for job prospects

    The labour market is getting more and more competitive. But the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) instituted by the Federal Ministry of Finance is expected to prepare Nigerian graduates between ages 18 and 40 for their dream jobs by matching them with fitting employers for mentoring, COLLINS NWEZE writes.

     

    Four million fresh graduates are ex-pected to join the employment market yearly. This will translate to additional 40 million unemployed youths in a decade, worsening the alarming rate of joblessness in the country.

    At 23.9 per cent, Nigeria’s unemployment rate seems to be alarming. Unemployment, particularly among youths is assuming a frightening dimension that constitutes an affront to the government’s development efforts.

    However, it has been discovered that even when the jobs are available, getting the right person to fill a vacant position sometimes becomes a mirage for most employers. This is attributable to the declining level of education and of skills among graduates.

    Nontheless, the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) is expected to train graduates on skills needed in work environment to bridge the knowledge gap between prospective employee and employer.

    Confirming this development, Project Director GIS, Peter Papka, said during the training of over 150 graduates in Lagos on skills needed in work environments that there is need for the graduates to enhance their skills to enable them secure their dream jobs.

    He said young graduates need to be trained and mentored in established firms to make it easier for them to secure the right jobs. The GIS, he explained, was established by the Federal Ministry of Finance as part of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), and is expected to prepare young job seekers between 18 and 40 years, for the work environment before they are employed.

    He said the youth need to learn about work ethics, team work, courage, communication skills, among others, to prepare them for the challenges ahead.

    Papka said Nigeria needs skilled workforce to stimulate the economy into achieving the Federal Government’s vision on economic growth and transformation.

    Papka, who is also a Director of SURE-P, Abuja, said aside creating jobs by the government and the private sector, the workforce has to be ready both physically and mentally to ensure that they seize the job opportunities when they come.

    He said the Federal Government has discovered the level of unpreparedness among jobless youths and, therefore, has begun discussions with banks, International Oil Companies (IOCs), telecoms operators and other leading private sector businesses on the need to mentor young graduates under the GIS scheme on skills and also offer them jobs on completion of their internship programmes.

    He added that the initiative will galvanise the economy through sustained growth and development. Also, subsequent meetings will be held with Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), which have capacity to cater for over 40 per cent of Nigeria’s job need.

    Aremu Olaniran, also from the Federal Ministry of Finance explained that the GIS seeks to provide graduates with quality temporary work experience to make them stronger candidates for job openings in the labour market.

    Such experience, he said, would also boost their chances of becoming self-employed. “The scheme will improve job placement opportunities for graduates by providing them with the opportunity to acquire professional skills, training, and work experience through a one-year internship placement,” he said.

    He explained that though the GIS is a short-term measure, it has high prospects for job creation, improve the welfare of youths and achieves the inclusive growth objective of Federal Government’s transformation agenda.

    He said during the period of internship, the Federal Government will be responsible for paying a monthly stipend to the graduate interns while the participating institutions/firms will be expected to provide adequate opportunities for training and mentoring them.

    The GIS is targeting up to 50,000 graduate interns yearly while the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) is domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for its administration and management.

    “The GIS, which started in 2012 to create opportunity for graduates to be attached to organisations, where they can work for a year and enjoy a monthly stipend of N18,000 enhances the interns’employability. The project has commenced registration of such firms and over 83,000 beneficiaries have been registered. This is beyond the threshold of 50,000 allotted for the scheme in any given year. Deployment of such beneficiaries has commenced,” he said.

    He regretted that the level of buy-in from the firms is below expectation as against the advantages that will accrue to such firms. “They get to enjoy free labour at government’s expense as government will pay the monthly stipends of the interns, they get to select the best interns to join their workforce and they get a cost-free opportunity to render their Corporate Social Responsibility. The project is also planning other incentives, such as tax rebates for companies registered with the project,” he said.

    The Director, After School Graduate Development (ASGD), Funmi Adeyemi, one of the facilitators, said the interns are being trained to support and add value to the organisations where they work. She advised them to build self confidence and develop the needed skills that will enable them to secure the right jobs when the opportunities arise.

    GIS Communication Adviser, Mrs Mary Ikoku, said companies searching for the right employees to fill vacant positions always ask for about five years’experience but many of the graduates do not have such experiences because they never worked before. He, however, said by training these interns, they are able to get the required experience to confidently secure their dream jobs in the market.

    She said the GIS remains a sub-component of SURE-P, targeted at delivering employment opportunities for Nigeria’s teeming unemployed graduates. Participants, she said, must be Nigerian graduates that have finished their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) or obtained their certificate of exemption. She regretted that some graduates are not employable, and that the training will sharpen their skills.

    The GIS project is expected to improve job placement options by providing opportunity for interns to acquire professional skills and get work experience through a one-year internship placement. There is also high prospect of being retained after the completion of Internship as well as opportunity to prove their ability to add value to the organisation.

    However, for a firm to get the opportunity to have GIS interns, it must be registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and other relevant professional bodies as applicable. The firms in question must also provide evidence of Value Added Tax Registration and Tax Clearance Certificate. They must also be prepared to provide a mentoring plan for each intern for a period of one year.

    Such firms must also prove that they are economically viable and engage in legitimate businesses by providing other relevant documents.

    Papka explained that all applications are done online, adding that prospective interns are posted to companies using automated matching process. She said such firms are categorised based on locality, field of expertise and number of vacancies.

    “Interns are categorised based on locality, field of study. Interns are auto-matched to already verified firms/organisations primarily based on their locality and field of study. Matching is done on a first come first served basis. Notification is sent by email to both interns and firms/organisations,” he said.

    Aside the GIS initiative, there is also cheery news coming from the SMEs’ subsector. It is not only the engine room for economic growth, but also contributes a minimum of 80 per cent of jobs created in the country.

    Director, Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), Pan African University, Peter Bankole, said if a country wants to develop, it must churn out graduates from different institutions of higher learning, and that the government must take SMEs’ support seriously. He said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) survey conducted last year showed that the SMEs’ sector would continue to play dominant role in job creation in the economy.

    Bankole, who spoke during just-concluded SMEs’ Toolkit Global Partner conference in Lagos organised by EDC, IBM and International Finance Corporation (IFC), said the challenge remains that majority of SMEs are micro, but the government is trying to move as many as possible from micro to small because that will create multiplier effects for the economy and create more jobs.

    The IFC, Nigeria Country Manager, Solomon Quaynor, said SMEs remain the engine of growth for the economy, adding that they are the largest employer of labour. He said when the SMEs’ businesses are run well, then they will have the capacity to employ more people.

    Despite these initiatives, some analysts feel that the government has not done much to create jobs. “The government has not really faced the challenge of unemployment headlong and I foresee a whole generation going through life without opportunities and hopes to succeed,” Moses Adike, human resource personnel based in Lagos, said.

    He said although the government and private sector have embarked on empowerment programmes, not many graduates are covered and some others who, want to start their own businesses, may not secure the needed funds.

    According to him, the rate of unemployment in the country has wide range implication for social stability and the dignity of humans. This, he said, has to be addressed by both private and public sectors of the economy.

     

     

  • Soccer Academy: Akpoborie commends Glo for empowering Nigerian Youth

    Soccer Academy: Akpoborie commends Glo for empowering Nigerian Youth

    •10 outstanding players emerge at Lagos screening

    EX- INTERNATIONAL and former Stuttgart of Germany Striker, Jonathan Akpoborie, has described the Glo Soccer Academy as another platform of empowering Nigerian Youth and reducing social vices in the country.

    Akpoborie, who was at the Legacy pitch, National Stadium venue of the Glo Academy screening exercise in Lagos over the weekend, joined the technical team comprising Victor Ikpeba, Tijani Babangida, Anthony Baffoe, Mutiu Adepoju, Zion Ogunfeyinmi, and Segun Odegbami to select the top ten candidates out of thousands of talented footballers that registered for the exercise.

    He described the Academy as the viable platform that thousands of talented youth need to showcase their skill and develop their career.

    According to Akpoborie, “there was nothing like this in our own days, we practically rose through the ranks”. He added that football helped to shape his life and shift his attention from vices that were common among the youths in his younger days in Ajegunle.

    He therefore called on Nigerian youths to make maximum use of the opportunity offered by the Glo Soccer Academy to fast track their football career, noting that this will help to reduce unemployment and social vices among the youth. He called on other corporate organisations to emulate Globacom in developing youth talents in football.

    Also speaking on the Academy, Ex- Super Eagles Midfielder, Mutiu ‘Headmaster’ Adepoju commended Globacom for initiating the Academy.