By Correspondent in Lokoja.
At least 90 youths in Kogi have been empowered on Skills acquisition by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).
Speaking at closing ceremony of the one-week empowerment on Friday in Lokoja, the Director General of SMEDAN, Mr Olawale Fasanya, said the programme was under the National Business Skills Development Initiative (NBSDI).
Fasanya, represented by the North Central Coordinator of SMEDAN, Mrs Charity Abuh, said the NBSDI is one of SMEDAN’s numerous programmes targeted at empowering entrepreneurs.
”We have been here training and empowering the beneficiary for the past one week in both entrepreneurship and skills development.
”We have chosen three skills’ trade, which include Laundering, Leather work and Fashion design, and we have selected 90 participants across the three senatorial districts of Kogi State,” he said.
The director general noted that all the States of the federation including FCT are participating in the empowerment programme and the entrepreneurship development.
According to him, the purpose is to enhance the capacity of the participants and help them with a starter pack in the three skills.
He said the empowerment would enable the participants to contribute their quota, positively, to the economy of Kogi and the nation at large, adding that the programme was organised annually, starting last year, promising that 2023 woukd be greater than 2022.
Fasanya advised the beneficiaries to make good use of the equipment given to them, saying there would be follow-up to ensure compliance.
Our Correspondent reports that items given include; Washing Machine and Pressing Iron, for those who did Laundering, and industrial sewing machines for those that did fashion and leather work.
Earlier, the Training Manager, Industrial Skills Training Centre, Lokoja, Mr Moses Onuche, urged the participants to start utilising their starter pack.
He stressed that no amount of capital would be too small to start any business, and urged them to start with what they had to build their businesses.
The training manager also urged the beneficiaries to be good ambassadors of SMEDAN, Kogi and the Federal Government of Nigeria and to help government create jobs, saying “it is the organised private sector that drives the economy.”
Some of the participants: Abdulkadir Muhammed from Lokoja, Musa Monsur from Ijumu, Aminat Abdulmumeen from Okene, and Memunat Umar from Dekina, all expressed their excitement over empowerment.
They thanked SMEDAN and the Federal Government for the gesture, and promised to make good use of the machines to better their lives and contribute their quota to the nation’s development.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
