The chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Hon. Solomon Eke, says his administration has ensured the training of his people in various skills to enable them cater for themselves against possible hardship that may arise due to the consequences of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic.
Noting that the training is in addition to other steps taken in the LGA to prevent the Coronavirus from spreading, the council boss said it was obvious that there is poverty in the country, hence something needed to be done, especially given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the society.
“We noticed that people are hungry and need to be elevated from their level of suffering. So we thought of how to empower our people”, he said.
Hon Eke, however, noted that while the decision to empower his people by equipping them with various skills was borne before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, it coincided with the need to empower the people for the post-COVID-19 era, which is widely believed to come with its own version of hardship in the society.
“This is still part of the post-COVID-19 empowerment measures we have put in place, because we have trained our people in different fields”, he stated.
According to him, such fields include computer training, catering, paint production, beads and hat making, etc for which certificates are awarded at the end of the training.
He continued that a total of 287 persons have so far been trained in computer (61), catering (89), fashion and design (68), hat, beads, and shoes production (24), hair dressing (19), make-up (16), and paint production (10).
“These are the people we’re set to empower with starter packs based on what has been recommended by their trainers. This include sets of computers; sets of hair dryers and combs; sets of sewing machines; cash to make-up artists; sets of gas cookers and gas cylinders to caterers; and also cash to paint producers; hats, heads, and shoes producers and decoration trainees”, he said.
Meanwhile, the chairman also stated that the empowerment of his people in various skills was an addition to various COVID-19 preventive measures taken since the state government took the initiative to institute prevention measures against the virus.
These measures, he stated, include provision of buckets for running water and hand sanitizers, which were distributed across all the communities of the LGA through their wards.
He also empowered tailors to produce over 6,000 face masks and distributed same to people of the local government, including loading bays for commercial drivers, and the Police, “because we know that people must always disobey the law and will be taken to the police station”.
