International Day of Rural Women: Ogun State Government Pledges To Empower Rural Women
Yanju Uwala in Abeokuta
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate International Day of the Rural Women, the Ogun State government has made plans to strengthen its grassroots empowerment efforts and boost the living condition of local residents.
Penpushing reports that this submission was made by the Commissioner for Rural Development Mr Taiwo Oludotun made when he led a delegation from the Ministry to the rural women’s training programme organized by the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), in conjunction with Gender Development Initiative (GENDI), on Thursday, at Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
The Commissioner also explained that Governor Dapo Abiodun’s administration had introduced strategies to further empower the rural women, however promised that all participants in training programme would be supported with the required capital to engage in small businesses.
Penpushing further reports that, Oludotun, acknowledged the great contributions of rural communities and residents towards boosting the state’s food production capacity and advised them to take advantage of the empowerment programmes to promote self- reliance.
The State Chairperson of women journalists, Mrs Modupeola Sobukonla had explained that the association was concerned about the plight of rural women and expressed optimism, adding that the participants would explore the opportunities different areas of skills acquisition training to support their families.
Penpushing also reports that she described the theme of the celebration “Building Rural Women’s Resilience in the wake of COVID-19” as a clarion call to all stakeholders to rise to the responsibility of assisting grassroots women to overcome the prevailing economic challenges.
The Agricultural Extension Officer from Ogun State Agriculture Development Project (OGADEP), Mrs Funmi Falade in her remarks on modern trends in the industry encouraged the women to adopt new methods of processing and packaging farm produce to boost their income generation.
Penpushing reports that, the representative of Gender Development Initiative (GENDI),Mrs Abimbola Shobo counseled the need of women to maintain menstrual hygiene and promote hygienic practices and overall well being of their children, especially the females.
The Baale of Idi-Ori, village, venue of the event, Chief Daud Adegboyega in his remarks , commended the body of women journalists for the initiative, also called the attention of the state government to the deplorable state of the only road linking the community to the state capital.
Meanwhile, women were trained by experts from the Non Governmental Organisation(NGO) as they took turns to learn on the techniques of liquid soap production.
