Network of Nigerian Female Professionals in Wash (FEMinWash), a Women Group in Nigeria and Diaspora has signified interest to collaborate with the Ogun State Government, through its technical and vocational education board, in empowering the girl-child with the requisite skills that will enable them to contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic development of the country.

Executive Director of the Group, Dr. Boluwaji Onabolu, while speaking during a courtesy visit to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Technical and Vocational Education, Prof. Joseph Odemuyiwa in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, revealed that the association with the backing of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources was poised at supporting the girl-child to venture into trades such as plumbing, carpentry and joinery, among others.

She said, “As a network of female professionals, we are working to ensure that women have a voice in decision making, while girl-child is skilled and able to generate income. We are looking at taking education beyond the paper qualification to empower them with skills that will take them off the labour market and break the cycle of generational poverty to make them self-reliant and creators of jobs”.

Onabolu submitted that the group had facilitated empowerment and skills acquisition for many girls from the North, linking them with the Gateway Industrial and Petro-Gas Institute (GIPI) in Oni, Ogun Waterside Local Government Area but wishes to expand its operations in the State, due to the availability of enabling environment and the strides it has made in technical and vocational education.

Speaking, Prof. Odemuyiwa revealed that the Group’s vision was in line with the State government’s drive towards empowering the girl-child with skills, saying the present administration had been making an appreciable effort to ensure that it leads in the area of female technical education, just as he assured that apart from the GIPI, the government would make available other facilities in its technical colleges to accommodate the trainees.

 He added that its collaboration with development partners and extension of training to capture the informal sectors, by training artisans to make them employable and creators of jobs had yielded positive outcomes, promising not to rest on its oars.