The Bonny Chiefs Council (BCC) has expressed delight over the women empowerment strides of the Vice Chairman of Bonny Local Government Area, Anengi Barasua, saying it was worthy of global accolades.

Chairman of the BCC, Se-Alabo Dagogo Claude-Wilcox gave this commendation during the Graduation Ceremony of a Skills Acquisition Programme organized by the Office of the Vice Chairman in Bonny on Monday, February 2, 2021.

“This is exceptional. This kind of gesture should be aired on at least one of the national news channels. This kind of empowerment is what you in international news channels. I am very happy that this is happening in Bonny and may God bless you.”

Se-Alabo Wilcox, who is also the Chief and Head of Wilcox Major House of Bonny Kingdom, extolled the resourcefulness, innovativeness and passion for value addition of Barasua, who he described as an epitome of sterling virtues and a role model for other women to emulate.    

Earlier, Anengi Barasua, who is the pioneer female Vice Chairman of Bonny LGA, had declared that in a technically demanding and vocationally competitive world, women can still make a difference if they are empowered with the requisite knowledge and the right skills sets.

According to her, the graduands, who were trained in various skills including Weaving of Native Wrappers, Fashion Designing, Cosmetology, Catering, Driving, Scaffolding, and Pipefitting, among others, were also given starter packs while those who underwent driving training would be issued with driving licenses from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in the coming days.

Barasua stated that the programme was aimed at changing the paradigm of negative tagging and mislabeling of women in the society due mainly to the perception of their vulnerability and skills deficiency in an intensely patriarchal and competitive world of work.

She encouraged the women to sustain their confidence building drive by scaling up their versatility and competences, commending the graduands for their undaunting determination to surmount challenges facing them to acquire the skills they need to forge ahead in life.

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“This is a programme I believe would add value to the lives of women who would be empowered with the requisite knowledge and skills sets to compete favourably with their male counterparts.”  

“This informed my sponsorship of the programme. I had to spend my personal money to see this through. Fortunately, Julius Berger and Evomec came in and also supported with some of what you are seeing here today.”

She explained that “as a way of ensuring transparency and accountability and also express our appreciation, we had to brand the donated items with the name and logo of the respective donors. Aside those, I sponsored the event end-to-end as my own way of empowering our women.”

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“Printing of the companies’ logos on the items, aside being a way of appreciating their support, was also to assure them that the items were given to the beneficiaries and to encourage other organizations to support such benevolence.”

The Bonny LGA Number Two thanked the Chairman of Bonny LGA, David Irimagha, for his support and for availing her the platform to execute such an historical project, while commending Evomec Global Services Limited (EGSL), Julius Berger Nigeria (JBN), and Cordeau Catering Nigeria Limited for their kind gestures and maximal support.

On his part, Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Bonny chapter, Tamuno-Opubo Wilcox-Buruwi used the occasion to applaud the Vice Chairman for her kind heart and service to humanity in the area of capacity development of women, noting that that was the hallmark of the party’s ideology, stressing that initiatives such as this will project the PDP in positive light.

To demonstrate his satisfaction with the programme, Chairman of the Bonny Integrated Recruitment centre (BIRC), Dagogo Jumbo, also known as ‘Opumingi’, offered job opportunities to two of the graduands from the scaffolding section, noting that with the training the participants have received they are now equipped to be self-reliant and to pursue their life’s dreams.

Highlight of the event was the distribution of industrial and Butterfly sewing machines, electric ovens, laptops, make-up kits, driving licenses, and cash prizes to the respective beneficiaries, including an exhibition of crafts.

The graduation ceremony represented the birth of a new foundation which will oversee the training and empowerment of young ladies into becoming entrepreneurs by facilitating the provision of start-up capital, monitoring and evaluation, business mentoring, and, overall, ensuring that the beneficiaries become owners of small businesses.