A total number of 150 women have benefitted from a five-day empowerment training scheme in informal skills acquisition organised by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Kwara State.

The training, done under the Women Employment Branch (W.E.B), a subsidiary of the Small Scale Enterprises (S.S.E) department of the NDE, was responsible for training and retraining women in the directorate.

Speaking during the program, the director-general of the NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, said that the women, grouped into five, were trained on different schemes; namely tye and dye, make up/gentle, events decoration, natural organic products production, stones/beads work, and perfumery.

Represented by the state coordinator of the NDE, Engineer Aba Timothy Omachoko, the director-general said that the training scheme was aimed at empowering women in the informal sector on the type of training they could key into and work from home without paying for a workspace.

He also said that the NDE was keen on such training that could empower women in the informal sector by discouraging them from depending solely on their husbands.

The DG said that the beneficiaries are expected to be given soft loans of N25,000 each after the one-week training programme, to enable them to get the necessary tools and kits to commence operations in their own little way.

“We are looking at some of these training that the women can undergo to practice within the confines of their homes without necessarily having to pay for anything; with the exception of materials required in the venture. They should rather take money for the services they have rendered instead.

“No beneficiary of this training is expected to join the unemployed market, but they should rather replicate such in their community”, he said, adding that the NDE would continue to do more for the teeming generality of unemployed youth, graduates and women.

Responding on behalf of the trainees, Mrs. Iyabo Adewale, expressed gratitude to the National Directorate of Employment for continued support and urged the organisation to continue to do more for the informal sector.