Sagobo (U/E), Dec 17, GNA - Some 180 women from various communities within Bawku and its surrounding villages have passed out after a two-week intensive training workshop on skills acquisition. The workshop was organised by the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Madam Hawa Yakubu and co-sponsored by Mrs Mary Odili, wife of the Governor of River State in Nigeria.
It was aimed at equipping the women with skills in the tie and dye, cosmetics, dressmaking, hairdressing and soap making.
Thirty of the women were presented with a sewing machine each, whilst the rest were given 150,000 cedis each as seed capital. This is the second time this programme has been organised in the area. The first batch had 320 people.
Madam Yakubu stressed the need for women to acquire employable skills to ensure that they fit into society to contribute meaningfully to the development of the area.
The Bawku Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Abdul-Rahman Gumah, said the government is determined to assist serious-minded people who are willing to take advantage of the existing opportunities to work to sustain the economy.
He urged the trainees to access the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) in order to expand their business, which would reduce poverty in the rural areas.
Mr. Gumah advised the women not to sell the tools given to them. "You only sell your birth right from poverty, if you sell these tools which are meant to take you out of it."
