Aisha Buhari restates commitment to poverty alleviation among women, youths

The wife of the President Mrs Aisha Buhari, has restated her commitment towards poverty alleviation among women and youths across the country.

Mrs Buhari said this in a statement made available to newsmen by her Director, information, Mr Suleiman Haruna, on Saturday in Abuja.

The statement explained that, Mrs Buhari gave the commitment while inaugurating Women Empowerment Scheme of her Future Assured Programme in partnership with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.

According to her, the easiest way to reduce the high level of poverty among women is to engage them in various empowerment programmes to enable them become self-reliance.

While giving the total breakdown of the beneficiaries of the empowerment scheme, Mrs Buhari said 11, 600 women and youths would benefit from the programme.

 She said, out of this figure, 1,500 women and youths would be trained on vocational skills, while 1,000 who had already gone through trainings would be given starter packs and a sum of N5,000 each.

Mrs Buhari, who issued certificates to 5,000 trainees, also announced the disbursement of interest-free loan to 1,000 beneficiaries as part of the empowerment package.

“Future Assured is contributing to this programme with the empowerment of 4,000 women.

 “As you are all aware, the importance of women economic empowerment cannot be over-emphasized. It specifically addresses the five goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG),” she added.

She charged the beneficiaries to be determined and become successful entrepreneurs thereby combating poverty and unemployment.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Legislative Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, who also spoke at the event, said the beneficiaries were selected across party lines after evaluation of their applications which he said, were submitted online. 

He appreciated the Management of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for partnering Future Assured Programme in the empowerment project.

The Director-General of NDE, Dr Nasiru Ladan, said the programme was meant to empower women and youths of the state in various trades to enable them become financially independent and contribute to the economy.

According to him, the best way to reduce poverty is to target rural areas, saying the NDE will  continue to concentrate its activities in the rural areas to achieve its main objective of eradicating poverty in the country. 

He, therefore, expressed gratitude to the wife of the President for her support through her Future Assured Programme.