About 1,000 Katsina women and youth smiled home at the weekend with N10,000 each along with sewing and grinding machines, among other equipment, courtesy of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
The gesture, according to the NPA Managing Director, Hajiya Hadiza Bala Usman, was part of her organisation’s contribution towards the Federal government’s women and youth empowerment programme designed at poverty reduction in communities across the country.
The distribution of the equipment and cash were the highpoint of activities organised by the NPA for the beneficiaries drawn from across the 34 local government areas of the state which began with their training in different crafts and trades, to enable them to become self-employed.
According to Usman, the NPA had during other separate ceremonies, donated 4,000 blankets to various Almajirai (Koranic) schools and 500 desks to various primary schools in the state.
According to her, “aside today’s programme, we have also distributed 4,000 chairs to Musawa Primary School, in Musawa Local Government Area. We equally gave N25,000 each to 50 youth and 40 irrigation machines to farmers in the same local government area.
“Considering the plight of women in rural areas, we distributed 50 sewing and grinding machines to 50 women in Malumfashi Local Government Area. We also fixed 282 solar lights in 282 Almajirai schools in the state. This is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s pledge to empower the youth across the country.”
She noted that the NPA also donated an 18-seater bus to a non-governmental organisation to boost its operations in the state.
In his message at the programme, Governor Aminu Bello Masari, urged the beneficiaries to work towards ensuring the sustainability of their various businesses, arguing that, “the empowerment of women and the youth remains the cardinal principle of the APC administration in the country.”