Mindful of the fact that religion is not only meant to satisfy the spiritual yearnings of the faithful but also taking care of their social and economic well-being, the Parish Priest of Saints Joachim and Anne Catholic Church, Ijegun in Igando/Ikotun Local Council Development Area Alimosho area of Lagos State, Rev. Fr Christopher Arabi has said the church will continue to cater for the welfare of the faithful.
Fr Arabi spoke on Sunday during the graduation ceremony of Dorcas Skills Acquisition Centre, held at the church’s Multi-purpose Hall.
The cleric said in the face of rising unemployment the country is experiencing currently, there have been calls for youth empowerment and development. He noted that the issue of unemployment results from the culture of dependence on non-existent government’s white collar jobs.
He regretted that in a situation of rising unemployment, people are put out of work and many have to be supported by the society-which the church is part of. A spin-off effect is that many of the young generation cannot find work, so they grow up alienated.
“Far more emphasis has to be placed on self-sufficiency, as against search for non-existing white collar jobs,” he said.
The cleric said lack of encouragement to the youth by the older generation to harness their innate entrepreneurial potential has played a major role in the rising number of unemployed youths.
Government alone cannot employ everybody. Economies around the world today are private- driven.
Fr Arabi noted that to achieve youths’ employment, there is an urgent need to change their mindset toward self-sufficiency, adding that one of the ways of solving youths’ unemployment is preparing them to become self-reliant.
“In the circumstances, we remained committed to ensuring that the Parish’s skills acquisition centre served the purpose for which it was established, which capacity is building that will make individuals, especially youths, become self-sufficient.
“The capacity building programmes included vocational trainings in cosmetology, hairdressing, bead-making, cake bakery, tailoring, among others. The gesture was aimed at creating more employment opportunities, promoting entrepreneurship by encouraging self-employment and self-reliance, organising training and skills acquisition programmes that would benefit the youth and the unemployed.
“St Dorcas Skills Acquisition Centre is an institution owned by Ss Joachim and Anne Catholic Church Ijegun. It was established in order to provide life-enhancing skills for students. The centre offers skills such as tailoring, catering, hairdressing, barbing and bead making, hat making, make up/gele and soap making, among others.
“Many of our students who graduated from the centre are doing so well in their respective endeavours as they were equipped with the necessary academic and practical skills and are now self-reliant,” the cleric said.
However, Fr Arabi enumerated some of the challenges the centre is experiencing which he said individuals, corporate organisations and well-meaning Nigerians should help in solving.
These, he said, include construction of external kitchen, repair of the centre’s deep freezer and purchase of power generating set, among other needs.
The students that graduated from the centre expressed their happiness and gratitude to the management of the centre.
Speaking on behalf of her colleagues, one the graduates, Kanu Gift thanked the Parish Priest and the Associate Priest, Rev. Fr Marcel Durugo and all that made their dream a reality. He expressed the hope that with what they had learnt, they will become economically independent and help in enhancing their families’ financial status.