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Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara
The Rivers State government has unveiled plans to empower vulnerable individuals, including girls to ease poverty and reduce crime.
The programme is organized by the state Ministry of Women Affairs in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government Affairs.
The state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Dr Roseline Uranta, disclosed this during an interactive session with newsmen in Port Harcourt.
Dr Uranta explained that the four-month programme tagged the ‘The Skilled Wave Project’ has been outlined to equip 23,000 participants across the 23 local government areas of the state.
Dr Uranta further said the initiative would tackle unemployment, poverty and gender inequality, promoting peace and security in the state.
Represented by her Personal Assistant, Rosemary Uranta, the commissioner said the training covers women, men, boys and girls.
She stated, “We are aiming to create about 23,000 jobs all across the 23 local government areas of Rivers State. We are not just looking at women.
“We are looking at fathers, mothers, boys and girls, children, everybody who is willing to be trained.”
The Women Affairs Commissioner further said the initiative was borne out of several complaints concerning gender and financial problems from people who come to the ministry.
She said, “We are looking to impart digital skills to them. We have heard a lot of cases in our office where women come to complain about gender problems. And we found out that one of the causes is financial problems.
“When you empower only the woman, you cannot solve the problems of the family. But when you empower the husband, the fathers, and children you see that everyone has more things to bring to the table,”
Also speaking, the Special Assistant to the governor on Information Communication Technology, Fenibo Fubura, said research reveals that youth restiveness and cultism cause a lot of damage to society.
He stated, “What brought about this initiative? We did a level of research; we looked at what is happening within the state and even fell back to some academic work that was done by some students at the University of Port Harcourt.
“After looking at what is written, we saw that the issue of youth restiveness, cultism and everything that is going on with the youths, how they are being used by the political class to cause damage in the society and all that.”
He further disclosed that those who register for the programme would be exposed to entrepreneurship, digital literacy, vocational skills, financial literacy and other essential skills.
He added, “The Skilled Way Project is an initiative from the Ministry of Women Affairs. But it is not a thing for just women, girls or ladies. We are looking at a wider spectrum of Rivers State people on the whole. So we are looking at training, empowering 23,000 of them, 1,000 per local government area.
“They would be exposed to industrial practices like best practices in the industry. If you are being trained in the tech space, in ICT and all that you are taking to incubators, accelerators and hubs.”
South-South PUNCH correspondent who covered the event reports that the ‘Skilled Way Project’ cut across population segments in the 23 local government areas of the state.
