…Sponsors 350 in capacity training
From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
Wife of the Ondo State Governor, Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu has expressed deep interest in the future of young girls in the state.
To this end, Mrs Akeredolu has expressed her readiness to sponsor the training of no fewer than 350 school girls in the state on some entrepreneurship skills during the holiday.
Tagged Bemore Summer Training, the programme put together by Mrs Akeredolu to ensure that young girls are trained during the school holiday is an annual training programme, which comes up during the third term holiday and started in 2017.
Speaking at this year’s edition of the programme, Mrs Akeredolu who spoke virtually from Germany where her husband is receiving medical treatment, said her interest in the future of young girls prompted her to initiate the yearly programme.
She said the programme was imperative to the future of the young school girls, as they would acquire more knowledge that would transform their lives during the programme .
She called on the government and other corporate organizations to render adequate financial supports to the programme.
Declaring the programme open, the Acting Govenor of the state, Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa commended the first lady for coming up with the initiative, saying that the programme will promote the principle of gender balancing.
Aiyedatiwa said “for a long time, the girl-child in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, has been faced with problems ranging from sexual abuse, lack of education, gender-based violence, religious and cultural biases, early/child marriage, discrimination, and under-nourishment, to female genital mutilation. These setbacks thus impede her development and stunt equality with the opposite gender in a society rooted in patriarchal idiosyncrasies and gender stereotypes.
“Bemore initiative has turned out as one of the most successful ideas that have conquered the whole culture of ‘boy preference’ and ‘girl aversion’. With Bemore we are inculcating an unequal valuing of the girl-child in line with the United Nation’s Resolution to recognize girls’ rights and the unique,” he added.
The beneficiaries, who were drawn from different parts of the state would be trained in Information and Communication Technology, solar power system, and some other entrepreneurial skills that could make them self-reliant.