Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha

Member representing Onitsha North and South Federal consistency of Anambra State, Lydia Chuba Ikpeazu has organised a four-day empowerment training skill programme for 120 women and youths of the constituency on beans flour production.

The training is aimed at empowering the youths and women in the constituency to be self-reliant, to create wealth and employment in the area.

The participants were given N20,000 each, beans and processing bagging machine, blending machine, grinding machine and other equipment to start off the business.

The beneficiaries were selected from the 15 wards in Onitsha North and 17 wards in Onitsha South local government areas, churches, widows, Hausa community, Yourba community and Igala community in order to give all the people both the indigenes and residents equal opportunities to partake in the programme.
Ikpeazu said the programme was to empower the women and youths to be on their own instead of giving them hand-out that cannot solve meaningful problem.

She urged the beneficiaries to see the empowerment training as an opportunity to say bye-bye to poverty and to empower others through the business as multiplier effect to the society.

According to her representative, “I want to say that the participants learnt the job perfectly and can produce their own beans flour for commercial quantity and domestic use. This is not the only empowerment programme done by the lawmaker, she has attracted other development projects as her constituency projects such as roads, transformers among others. She believe teaching one how to fish instead of given one fish and that is what is happening here today.

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“One of the reasons she embarked on such empowerment programme is because on a daily basis people come for assistance and are always looking out for money and there is no way you will be giving out money every time, so she decided to come up with the training programme in order to empower them to be selfreliant. She came up with this initiative to train them on how to use beans to earn money, you know that one of the major problems down here is that we don’t know how to preserve perishable foods. And when you turn beans to flour it will be used for ‘Akara and moin moin.”

The resource person and the Director, Durable Crop Research in the Nigerian Stored Product Resarch Institute (NSPRI), Ilorin, who represented the Executive Director of NSPRI Prof. Olufemi Peters, Dr. Sampson Okunade commended Ikpeazu for the initiative aimed at alleviating poverty in the area.

“My role is to monitor and evaluate this programme; as you can see, we have issued them certificate because they have been certified okay. The participants were willing and eager to learn. For the four days, the turnout was high because of the importance they attached to this programme. In other places we have done this training, this place remains the best.

“Ikpeazu has done a great things by bringing this training to her people. It is a rare opportunity. I’m calling on them to make good use of the empowerment training for the benefit of their families and society at large. In next few weeks, I will come back; I want to see the product in the market. They will assist their husbands and the youths will assist their parents and sibblings,” Okunade stated.
One of the participants, Princess Ogugua Esimai Amene commended the lawmaker for remembering them, saying that the empowerment means laying foundation for brighter future and for continuity of generations.

“This empowerment is special and extraordinary. It strengthens both the body and soul. It is an empowerment that cuts across regions, zones, race and languages. We wish to rename it ‘Hon. Lynda Chuba Ikpeazu’s operation feed the nation.’

It was clear that when a woman is born, a nation is born, and that is why we said that Hon. Lynda has empowered nations. She has trained, equipped and empowered many Nigerians to break through poverty and be self-reliant,” she stated.

Other participants Mrs. Joy Ogubara, Onyeka Okose and Emeka Abiakama thanked the lawmaker for the gesture and promised to put what they learnt from the training to fight poverty and encourage entrepreneurship