NCWD Equips 115 Women, Girls With Skills In Male-dominated Fields

As part of efforts to empower women and improve their livelihood, the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) in collaboration with Partnership for Advancing Women in Economic Development (PAWED) is training 115 women, girls on artisan skills.

The skills include Plaster Of Paris (POP), tiling and masonry, air conditioning and refrigeration, generator repairs, plumbing and piping, electrical works and installation.

The director-general, NCWD, Dr. Asabe Bashir, who spoke yesterday at the opening ceremony of the 7th edition of the training programme in Abuja, said the idea is to empower female youth as skilled workers who will have a competitive edge over their male counterparts.

She noted that the society is gradually becoming more responsive to the fact that more women are needed in the job, as more women are increasingly taking up financial responsibilities of their families.

"Today, we have entered a new phase of the project where 115 selected female artisans are expected to participate in the advanced level of the training, leading to the award of trade test 3 certificate. I therefore urge all the 115young women and girls who were selected to put in their best to justify the confidence response in you," she said.

On her part, the programme officer, development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), Aisha Hashim, said the dRPCPAWED programme is aimed at strengthening Nigerian women to be empowered, saying "We realised that the Nigerian women constitute 49 per cent of the nation's population but only has access to 5 per cent of the funding.

"The PAWED programme is working with partners and centres like NCWD to see that the women are empowered because there is no way 41 per cent of a population can be vulnerable. If Nigeria has to grow, 49 per cent of the population has to be empowered.