NIOMR, GIZ Train 300 Women on Catfish Production

Oluchi Chibuzor

As part of efforts to empower vulnerable women in the country, the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) in partnership with German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) has concluded the training of 300 women beneficiaries and six train-of-trainers (TOTs) on Catfish production.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the training programme held at the Ikorodu Skill Acquisition Center, Lagos State, recently, the Executive Director, NIOMR, Prof. Sule Abiodun, said the programme would tremendously improve the socio-economic status of the women beneficiaries.

The ED, who was represented by Dr. Nkechi Achilike, applauded GIZ for embarking on the project that targeted exclusively the female gender folk.

He was appreciative of the starter packs distributed among the trainees which included two plastic fish tanks, 200 catfish juveniles, weighing scale, water test kit, hand net, plastic basin, plastic sieve, log book and bags of fish feed.

He commended Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) for effective mobilisation of the 306 beneficiaries from the six LGAs from Agege, Mushin, Lagos Island, Badagry, Epe, Ikorodu, and for the active participation of the women during the two batches of the training programme.

The training on catfish production was aimed at improving the livelihood of the vulnerable women with Aquaculture Starter Packs donated by GIZ given to the women to kick start their fish farming business.

Representing the Permanent Secretary, Lagos Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Oluwatoyin  Salami, appreciated the development partners in their efforts to improve human capacity in the State.

She said, “This programme is about social development, economic improvement and sustainability of livelihood for our women in Lagos State. The capacity building is going to be impactful and we are sure because of the huge success stories of the first batch of training carried out last September, 2022, for 150 women that cut across three other local governments; Mushin, Agege, and Lagos Island.

“A lot of the women trained were employers of labour now and they have been able to generate income from the business and are now self-reliant.

“This is one of the key purposes of any capacity building that has to do with social intervention; the participants or beneficiaries must be self-reliant for additional income for sustainability.”

She expressed optimism that the beneficiaries would do well for themselves while receiving adequate support care through the M&E team that would monitor their development.

“At the end of the day, it will be a human capital worth investing into and so we are hoping to do a third phase because we want to reach out to as many women as we can.

“We have discovered that a lot of beneficiaries have expanded their aquaculture businesses across the aquaculture value chain.”