National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has commenced a five-day training for women on shoe and bag making in Ebonyi.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme was declared open by the Director-General of NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu-Fikpo, in Abakaliki on Wednesday.

Nuhu-Fikpo, represented by the NDE Coordinator in the state, Dr Don Anaba, said that the week-long training was to boost the capacity of women in job creation and reduce unemployment rate, not only in Ebonyi but in Nigeria at large.

He said that the training, under the Women Employment Branch (WEB), a platform of the Small Scale Enterprises (SSE) Department of NDE, was aimed at designing income-generating activities for women to generate mass employment and reduce poverty among them.

NDE on its intervention programmes

Nuhu-Fikpo added that the directorate, through its intervention programmes and scheme, had created over one million direct jobs for women of all categories through skills acquisition.

Ms Chikodi Ike, Head of Department, Small Scale Enterprises of National Directorate of Employment, Abuja office, said that no fewer than 740 unemployed women were participating in the training across the federation.

Ike, represented by Carol Eluwa, HoD of WEB, SSE Department, Abuja, urged the participants to be confident in themselves in order to become experts in the skill.

She noted that at the end of the programme, the trainees would be given some money to establish their own businesses.

The Head of Unit, WEB in Ebonyi, Mrs Martha Nwizi, also urged the trainees to be dedicated to build their skills.

A participant, Chisom Awah, who pledged to be focused in the training, thanked the Federal Government for selecting them for the programme.