Ebonyi Empowers 500 Hawkers in Various Cities with N2m Each

Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State yesterday empowered over 500 Ebonyi people hawking in various cities across in the country with N2 million naira to help them improve in their businesses.

Flagging off empowerment of 500 indigenes of the state in Abakaliki, Nwifuru noted that the 500 persons would be trained in various skills by the state government and empowered with N2million each after the training.

Nwifuru who took time to narrate his humble beginning as a bricklayer before he became the governor, urged the people of the state to engage in meaningful ventures from where they may be promoted to higher level the way he did and became the governor.

He implored the beneficiaries to use the opportunity to learn skills that can  enhance  their standard of living.

He said “I wear your shoes and I know where it pinches. I suffered a lot, I passed through hurdles, I passed through stages of life and I now realized that those stages I passed is because God wants to equip me”.

“I made myself available for God to equip me. So, it is now a challenge to most of our leaders, to most of our youths today to make yourselves available today for God to equip you”.

“Its not easy for a young man to be a bricklayer, its not easy and I decided to make myself available. Today, you are here to learn skills, you have good skills but that skills refused to put food on your tables”.

“This is why we have lots of skill development centres here and we said you should come and learn some other skills which can put foods on your tables,  even without much struggles you will see food on your tables”.

“Some of you have what you are doing that you need only some little support, then you can grow it very well and that is why you are here so, it is not by force that you learn skill if you have what you are doing that is very much enormous to feed you”.

The State Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Business Development, Chief Oguzor Offia- Nwali told journalists that the state government was targeting 1,5000 people of the state for the empowerment programme.

On his part, the Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Nnanna Elechi, said the empowerment progarmme was Governor Nwifuru’s desire to liberate the indigenes of the state who are hustling in the streets of Lagos, Abuja, Onitsha, Aba, Port-Harcourt and other cities in the country.

He added that the training and empowerment programme was in line with the charter of needs manifesto of the present administration in the state.