The lawmaker representing Lagos West Senatorial District and chairman of Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola Yayi, has declared that his target in entrepreneurship and vocational skills acquisition programmes for youths, women and others is to achieve a figure of over 20,000 trained constituents in various skills.
Speaking on the ongoing 2022 Entrepreneur and Vocational Skills Acquisition Programmme that he facilitated for over 3000 youths and women in Lagos West Senatorial District in various centres of the district, the senator said that under the 2021 programme 3500 beneficiaries were recorded with empowerment in equipment and start off cash grants.
The programme, which has been running since 2020, includes entrepreneurship development training, vocational skills acquisition in diverse areas as fish farming and production, confessionary making, fashion designing, phone repair, leather work, barbing, make- up artist and Gele and soap and detergent making. Others are solar energy installation, concrete work design and production of insecticides.
“I am looking forward to training over 20,000 constituents to be self-employed and employer of labour or just to have a second stream of income. The number may ideally look small compared to the population of over 12 million constituents of the largest senatorial district in Nigeria but when the multiplier effect is considered, it will be realized that this is the way to go as government alone cannot provide employment for citizens in their millions” he stated.
Senator Adeola stated that in addition to these trainings, there is also other programme for graduates to be trained and internationally certified in ICT programme that had benefitted over 1500 constituents with empowerment of laptop computers and certification that could lead to gainful employment internationally.
“My ultimate goal is to justify the mandate bestowed on me by the electorate at all point. In addition to also facilitating infrastructure like roads, provision of water, electricity and modern educational infrastructure for all levels of education that impacts on majority of constituents, it is also my desire to touch individual constituents in a personal way as their representative” he stated.
At the end of the 2022 programme participants will be given empowerment in form of equipment, other resources like fish production vats, feeds and fingerlings as well as take of grants to practice skills acquired.