13th October, 2016
The Federal Government has concluded plans to offer skills training to 1,000 women displaced by conflicts in the country, Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Alhassan, has said.
Alhassan made the disclosure at the opening of the 16th regular meeting of the National Council of Women, holding in Kaduna.
She said the National Centre for Women Development had since outlined modules for the training, which would hold between now and December.
Alhassan said that at the end of the training, the beneficiaries would be provided with starter pack “to ensure that the skills learnt are translated into income generating activities for poverty reduction.”
The minister also said that the government had rolled out the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and National Women Empowerment Fund to enhance inclusive empowerment for vulnerable groups.
“The two programmes are microfinance schemes where loans of between N10,000 to N100,000 are given to interested Nigerians especially women.
“The loans are interest-free, no collateral required and repayable within a period of six months.”
She said that the government had initiated other intervention programmes including the Conditional Cash Transfer, school feeding programme, bursary for science, engineering, technology, education and mathematics students, among others.
“Instructively, these programmes are anchored on the need for more sustainable and inclusive economic growth to reduce the rate of poverty and close the inequality gaps of women and other vulnerable groups.”
According to her, the federal government is committed to addressing special needs of vulnerable groups in Nigeria .
She said that the meeting would articulate specific priorities, action plans, key performance indicators, and framework to monitor and evaluate the nine SDG goals that affect women and social development.
Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Mr Barnabas Bala, said that the state government had concluded plans to unveil a N1 billion fund, to be accessed only by women.
He also said that the state had forwarded the Child Right Act to the state Assembly for approval.
The deputy governor assured that the state would implement decisions taken at the council meeting.