Cross River: Parliamentarian Unveils Skills Acquisition Programme for Girls

The member representing Calabar Municipality in the Cross River State House of Assembly, Mr. Stanley Nsemo has flagged off the 2023 skills acquisition programme for young girls.

The vocational training, which covers cosmetology, hairdressing and tailoring, was unveiled in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, southern Nigeria for 30 Secondary school graduates between the ages of 16 to 25.

Nsemo noted that the vocational training programme was inaugurated in fulfilment of his campaign promises and to complement the People First agenda of the Cross River Governor, Senator Bassey Otu.

He said; “during my campaign, I promised that through my foundation, I would expand the scope of the humanitarian services to the people. I have commenced the empowerment programme as promised and the focus here is to lift as many people from poverty.”

Achieving goals

On the empowerment of the girl child, he stated, “the Governor has an agenda to lift people out of poverty and so is the focus of the Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As a representative of the people, it is only natural that my empowerment programmes are streamlined to fit into that of the governor and President Tinubu.

“Besides, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 5, which has to do with poverty elimination, gender equality and empowering women and girls by providing them opportunities to engage in productive economic activities and earn decent wages serve as motivation for me,” Nsemo said.

He further said, “we decided to select these beneficiaries from the 10 political wards in my constituency to begin with after these set, we will have another set of interested women and girls. The participants chose the training they want; this class is cosmetology, others selected other vocations and we have mobilized for them to commence. I am not looking at a target because this administration is not yet four months old. We will accommodate more people.”

“At the end of the training, we intend to also provide the tools for them to start off and hope that this empowerment to enhance enrolment in the universities as well as standard of living,” Nsemo said.

The lawmaker noted that the programme would take on the next set of beneficiaries in the next quarter.

Better living

One of the beneficiaries, Miss Victoria Oqua expressed appreciation to the legislator for the opportunity to learn and earn an income, which would assist her immediate family.

The young graduate stated, “I am grateful for this opportunity to learn this trade. I have always wanted to learn cosmetology because whether we like it or not, a lot of ladies love to makeup and pay well for home service. I did not have the money to pay for the training, but I am happy to be one of those selected and at the end, we will also be given equipment free of charge to start work.”

“This will help me have money to use for myself and my siblings including my mothers, who has really been trying for us. It will also help me save for university because I intend to further my education. Today, people with skills can survive better than unskilled people,” she added.

Mercy Chukwudiebere