The Defence and Police Officers’ Wives Association (DEPOWA) has empowered 20 widows of fallen military personnel with vocational skills to make them industrious and self-reliant in the society.
The widows graduated alongside 24 youths at the DEPOWA Skills Acquisition Centre in Abuja on May 6, 2018 after a successful completion of six-month training.
In her remarks at the ceremony, the former DEPOWA National President, Hajiya Aminat Ibrahim, who was the Special Guest of Honour, congratulated the graduands for a successful completion of the training, urging them to effectively use the acquired vocational skills and starter packs to improve their livelihood.
Hajiya Aminat Ibrahim commended DEPOWA and its current leadership for contributing to human capacity development via its empowerment programmes which has impacted in the lives of widows of deceased military personnel. She then called on both the public and private sectors to support DEPOWA empowerment programme so as to reduce the prevailing rate of unemployment.
Earlier in her welcome address, the DEPOWA National President, Mrs Omobolanle Olonisakin said that the Association places high premium in the empowerment of widows of fallen heroes so as to enable them cater for their immediate families. According to Mrs Omobolanle Olonisakin, “the 44 students graduated with different vocations, 20 of whom are widows.
This is with our sincere belief in the development of human capacity in line with our objective of giving succor to the less privileged in our society, with particular emphasis on our fallen heroes.’’
The DEPOWA National President, stated that over 300 women and youths including widows of fallen heroes have so far benefited from the Association’s skills acquisition programme in the past three years.
On his part, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, who was represented by the Director of Defence Civil Military Cooperation, Brigadier General Aderemi Gbadebo, lauded the efforts of DEPOWA for the initiative in addressing the plight of the less privilege in the society.
He advised the graduands to go ahead to start their own businesses. It would be recalled that, DEPOWA empowered 200 Ekiti women and youths on various skills acquisition a few months ago.
