The Akwa Ibom government says it will partner with the Federal Government on the establishment of skill acquisition centres for women in the 31 council areas of the state.
The state governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, made the promise on Monday in Uyo when the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Aisha Alhassan, paid him a courtesy visit.
Emmanuel said that he was excited to hear that the Federal Government was planning to build skill acquisition centres in the local government areas to train the rural women.
The governor said that he would direct the Women Affairs commissioner to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs on the proposed skill acquisition centres for the women
He announced that his administration was already partnering with a German technical firm on the establishment of a mega skill acquisition centre for both women and the youth.
Emmanuel said that the Child Rights Law enacted in 2008 in the state was on course, explaining that a child rehabilitation centre had also been established to help vulnerable children.
He pleaded with the Federal Government to include Akwa Ibom in the early phase of the home-grown school feeding programme for school children.
The governor noted that the feeding programme for school children would complement the free and compulsory education policy of the state government.
Emmanuel also appealed to the Federal Government to refund at least 50 per cent of the money spent by the state government on federal roads crisscrossing the state.
He promised that if the money is refunded, he would use it to relocate Uyo Prison currently being threatened by gully erosion.
“The prison yard is almost inside the ravine and I have proposed to relocate it from there.”
Earlier, the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Aisha Alhassan, commended the Akwa Ibom government for domesticating the Child Rights Act in the state.
She lauded the Gov. Emmanuel for supporting the vulnerable, the children and women in the state.
The minister said that she was in the state to assess the level of women involvement in development and to sensitize them on social investment programmes of the Federal Government.
She said that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs would collaborate with the state government on the establishment of skill acquisition centres in the local government areas of the state.
“The FG has to collaborate if it has to succeed in taking care of the Nigerian women.
“We are asking for collaboration to assist the vulnerable, the children and women of the Akwa Ibom,” Alhassan said
She promised that Akwa Ibom would benefit from the next phase of the home-grown school feeding programme of the Federal Government.
Alhassan assured that when the programme would begin in the state, the Akwa Ibom women would be engaged in the cooking for the children.
THE NATION
