The first batch of Aisha Buhari Foundation’s Women Empowerment Programme for women in Kano State has been concluded with 1,000 graduands selected from different women groups from the state’s 44 local governments and trained based on their choices of vocation.
This was disclosed in a statement made available to The DEFENDER on Saturday, signed by the Director of Information in the Office of the Wife of the President, Mr. Suleiman Haruna.
According to the statement, “The beneficiaries were taught fashion design, interior decoration, event management, catering and leatherwork. Others were trained to produce cosmetics and household cleaning products, while others were taught processing of household spices. Because of their number, the women were spread between two centres: the women center at Gyadi gyadi and Salfat women center at Goron Dutse.”
Coordinator of the Aisha Buhari Foundation’s Women Empowerment Programme in Kano State, Mrs, Ramatu Mukhtar Rabiu, said the primary mandate of the Foundation was to empower women and enhance their chance of growing to their full potential in the community which, she said, had recently become more pronounced with the activities of the Future Assured programme.
Mrs Rabiu said the Foundation took inspiration from its founder, Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, whose unrelenting commitment in this regard, has drawn global attention.
“Mrs Buhari has changed the lives of thousands of Nigerian women and she will continue, so that more women will become empowered in Nigeria” Mrs. Rabiu said as she congratulated the graduands on the skills they have acquired and called on them to translate the skills to money and improve their livelihood.
Rabiu advised the women to ensure that beyond the skills, they also had to advocate to other women to engage in entrepreneurial activities.
President, National Council for Women Societies, Kano State chapter, Hajiya Zainab Ali Musa thanked Mrs Buhari for being a role model, who made direct contribution to improve the lives of women, adding that Nigerians would not forget her efforts.
Also commenting at the event, the Managing Director of Salfat Empowerment Center, Mrs Aisha Ameen Ilias, expressed her appreciation to Mrs Buhari for increasing the number of skilled women in Kano and said she was sure that this would translate to better economic indices in the state.
Mrs Ilias called on other well-meaning Nigerians to emulate Mrs Buhari’s Foundation so that more women could become empowered.
One of the beneficiaries of the training exercise, Mrs Shemaú Gwadabe, while expressing appreciation to Mrs Buhari, said, the women of Kano were not surprised at the gesture because Mrs Buhari had been supporting women for many years.
She prayed God to grant the ABF founder and wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, the wherewithal to continue the good work she was doing.
Another contributor, Mrs Sani, used the opportunity to call on other privileged Nigerians to help the trained women with start-up funds and working tools to enable them hit the ground running.
The training is expected to reach 2200 women in Kano, and has been held in Lagos and Katsina states so far. Aisha Buhari Foundation plans to conduct the training in all the states of the Federation, a statement by Director of Information, Office of the Wife of the President, Mr. Suleiman Haruna, said.
