As part of efforts to eradicate poverty from the ranks of the Nigerian military, the Defence Headquarters on Monday embarked on a two-week skills acquisition programme for 320 dependants of military personnel in Lagos.
Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen Azubuike Ihejirika
Apart from the dependants, five women were picked from the Onigbongbo Local Government Area of the state to also partake in the programme.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Defence Headquarters 2012 Skills Acquisition Programme, the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Ibrahim, said the initiative was in tandem with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals in the area of economic empowerment.
Ibrahim said the programme, which was instituted in 2008, was to equip spouses and dependants of military personnel with skills that would make them self-employed and job creators.
Ibrahim, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Personnel Services DHQ, Air Commodore Abiodun Oyero, said, “Over the years, we realised that most of the programmes were aimed at alleviating poverty among personnel while their families were left out. So, in 2007, we wanted to see how our wives and children could also benefit from poverty alleviation by teaching them skills.
“The idea basically is that most of our soldiers go on operation and their wives and children are left behind, unable to cater for themselves. Consequently, the economic empowerment initiative is deliberately aimed at eliminating distractions and promoting greater efficiency and professionalism among military personnel.”
Managing Director, Brandedge Consulting, Mrs. Modupe Wigwei, who is in charge of the training, said the beneficiaries would be trained in nine areas namely, hairdressing, beauty salon management; agriculture and allied businesses, soap making, tailoring, catering, photo processing, ICT and business management.
Wigwei said over 16,000 spouses and dependants had so far benefitted from the programme, adding that eight different locations in the country, Lagos inclusive, would benefit from the training this year.
“We believe that with such a structure in place, it would be easier for interested organisations to assist of the barracks community because we believe there is a lot of potential in the barracks community and we would like people to support them,” she said.
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