Kingsley Nwezeh
Wife of the Chief of Defence Staff and President of Defence and Police Officers Wives Association (DEPOWA), Mrs. Lucky Irabor, has lamented the state of insecurity in the country which led to the death of many security personnel, leaving more widows and orphans in the barracks.
She spoke at a skills acquisition programme in Abuja designed to empower wives whose spouses died fighting insurgency and other security challenges.
The DEPOWA president spoke as the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, rallied support for wives of fallen security personnel and affirmed the commitment of her ministry to partner with the DEPOWA) towards empowerment of women and youths to achieve economic prosperity of the nation.
Mrs. Irabor, said: “The insecurity the North-east and other flash points had led to loss of lives which have left widows and orphans in the military and police barracks”.
She stated that embarking on skills acquisition for widows and vulnerable youths was in line with the role which DEPOWA and her affiliate member associations were playing in addressing “the enormous social and emotional stress, associated with being the wives of men, who are trained to lay down their lives for their country”.
Irabor disclosed that 40 students who successfully passed through the six months rigorous and intensive training, comprised of widows and orphans of fallen heroes.
She added that graduands were trained in the various vocational skills which include fashion designing, catering, hair dressing, make-up and gele tying, barbing, cosmetic production, computer studies and bead stringing.
Aside the starter-packs, Mrs. Irabor equally revealed that DEPOWA would provide funds for the graduands to be able to rent shops for one year.
The DEPOWA president further mentioned the starter-packs that were given to graduands, which were set of pots, ovens, cylinders, cake mixers, coolers and baking pans.
Others, she said, include generators, clippers, powder brush, combs, catering, weaving and sewing, tonging machines, hair dresser, standing and hand hair dryers.
Meanwhile, Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, rallied support for wives of fallen security personnel and stated the commitment of her ministry to partner with the DEPOWA) towards empowerment of women and youths to achieve economic prosperity of the nation.
The minister, spoke during the graduation ceremony of the 10th batch of trainees of the DEPOWA Skills Acquisition programme in Abuja
While commending DEPOWA for empowering women and youths as well as widows and orphans of fallen heroes, she reiterated the ministry’s readiness to henceforth work alongside DEPOWA in the execution of the ministry’s programmes and trainings targeted at building a just and free society.
According to her “As the national women and children’s machinery, the Ministry of Women Affairs will continue to partner with DEPOWA and other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), in the realisation of the goal of women empowerment as enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).” She added that empowering women and children, especially the girl-child was critical to national development.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is a defining movement in our lives which thought us that an additional skill is important to cope with the changing times as people were authorised to stay at home and sectors of social life were in abrupt standstill”, she said.
According to her, those with added skills were able to overcome the hardships by engaging in lucrative businesses such as food production, tailoring and others which brought in additional income.
She, however, urged the leadership of DEPOWA to recognise the changing needs of women and young girls from the traditional vocational programmes to what she described as male dominated sphere which include repair of generator set, air conditioner, plumping, tiling, masonry, amongst others.
She further spurred DEPOWA to leverage on the ministry’s National Centre for Women Development, in building skills that would be recognised both nationally and internationally. She noted that the centre had launched the flagship female artisanship project.
According to her, DEPOWA could also model these trainings as well as enhance the quality of its certificates being issued to graduands.
She advocated for the eradication of gender-based violence in the barracks, while calling for the wives of the service chiefs to join the women affairs ministry in championing the campaign as critical voices in their barracks community.
Highpoint of the graduation ceremony was the presentation of certificates and starter-packs to the graduands as well as exhibition of the items produced by the graduands which was presented to guests at the occasion.
