Niger Governor Makes Case for Women Empowerment

Laleye Dipo in Minna

Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has made a strong case for the empowerment of women in the society, saying: “Women are good managers of resources.”

Bello made the remarks in Minna last Wednesday at the flag-off of the distribution of empowerment tools to selected women and youths in the state.

According to him, “We must do whatever we can to reduce the hardship of women, because women are good managers. If you invest in one woman, you are investing in over a 100 people. No matter how little you support them, they make very good use of it.”

He decried the large number of unemployed youths in the society, saying white collar jobs cannot solve the youth employment problem being faced, and therefore stressed the need for youths to acquire entrepreneurial skills to make them gainfully employed.

Bello added: “We have to think out of the box to support the people to become entrepreneurs, and that is the only way to reduce unemployment.”

The governor, therefore, advised the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the items given to them to make them become employers of labour, promising to provide more equipment to scale-up the number of beneficiaries before his tenure expires.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, explained that the beneficiaries went  through series of  trainings in various skills and trades before being qualified for the presentation.

Over 1,770 items, including  sewing and knitting machines; set of tool boxes,

pumping and filing machines, and small electrical generators sets were distributed to the beneficiaries.