To reintegrate female migrants and returnees to society, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) with the support from German Development Agency (GIZ) through its Inspire, Empower and Reintegrate Women Project has empowered 100 returnees with different skills.
Over 100 returnees and migrants from Libya, Arab Emirates, European countries, Liberia and some other countries within the age of 18 to 40, yesterday, graduated after been trained for over eight weeks to learn catering and hotel management, fashion designing and hairdressing.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, yesterday, WARDC’s founding Executive Director, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, commended the 100 beneficiaries for their perseverance and commitment during the training, urging them to go inspire the world.
Akiyode-Afolabi said that with the project, the women have been empowered and reintegrated into a world filled with obstacles.
The team leader at GIZ, Mrs. Sandra Vermuijten, said that her agency has been working in Nigeria since 1974 in collaboration with the Nigerian government. She said that women make up a large percentage of their project beneficiaries. “In Nigeria, there are so many challenges but the impact of change is effective with one person, one job at a time.”
Earlier, Abiola-Akiyode, in her welcome address quote the World Health Organisation (WHO) report, which said that 30 per cent of girls and women aged 15 and 49 experienced sexual abuse.
“Violence against women and girls in Nigeria has remained high and in recent years, most especially during the period of the government-ordered lockdown in the face of COVID-19 rose to a near-epidemic level.”
WARDC Executive Director further stated that irregular migration is another challenge affecting women, noting that the journey is particularly dangerous for women and girls as they experience physical abuse, torture, rape, enslavement and other forms of psychological abuse.
Also, Lagos Zonal Commander of National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) Mrs. Comfort Modupe Agboko, represented by the Head of Research and Programme Development Unit of the agency, Mrs. Rachel Uzor, in her remark said that the agency is also a partner in the project, noting that the agency had combatted trafficking in persons for 20 years.
Some of the equipment given to the beneficiaries includes 12kg gas cylinders, gas cookers and ovens, sewing machines, standing hair steamer, makeup boxes, cake pans and washing basins.
