Edo state Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has offered to engage female
mechanics for the maintenance of government vehicles..
Besides, Governor Obaseki said as part of his
administration’s strategic plans for competitive advantage, female
drivers and mechanics would be encouraged to study at the Benin
Technical College after a complete retooling and rehabilitation.
The Governor who made this disclosure during the graduation ceremony of
twenty five female mechanics in Benin City, Monday, said, “I want to
throw an offer to you today - in Government House, we have a workshop.
We would like you to come and take a look at it and also see if you can
take over maintenance of the vehicles in Government House”.
The
Governor said government will partner with the Lady Mechanic Initiative,
a non-governmental organization, to promote youth employment in line
with his electioneering campaign promises. While lauding the initiative,
Governor Obaseki said, “it’s in line with my agenda for job creation
and youth empowerment”.
According to Governor Obaseki, “the
challenge we face today; the challenge of unemployment, the challenge of
rebuilding our communities and society is not the challenge that rests
on one arm of government or one set of institution alone. It is a
challenge that all of us must combine together to deal with - whether
you are government, whether you are civil society, whether you are
private sector.
“That is the reason why as Governor of Edo State,
once I realized that this initiative had taken root, I said the least
that we could do is to come here and help to participate in the
graduation ceremony of the last twenty five of the hundred students this
programme started with. I hope that as sponsor, Coca Cola will not
terminate this programme with this set. I am going to make a passionate
appeal, and if you need me to come to your headquarters, I will come so
that this programme can be extended.”
The Governor who assured
that government will rebuild and develop the Benin Technical College
said, “my first official assignment when I resumed on Monday, the 14th
of November was to visit the Benin Technical College. First, to send
certain signals that I campaigned on the fact that we will create a
minimum of two hundred thousand jobs - I meant it.
“So, my first
assignment was to go to that institution that historically we had set up
to develop manpower for industry and our economic life. I was really
disappointed with what I saw, but from every disappointment comes
challenges, and we are committed. And as I speak to you now, there is a
team at the Benin Technical College doing survey, re-establishing the
size of the land, with designs and working out plans so that within the
next thirty days, we would have awarded the contract for the
redevelopment of that school.
“We would like to have further
discussions with you. I know you said you have a piece of land somewhere
to develop as a one-stop mechanic village, but we would like to review
and see if we can locate that workshop to the premises of the Benin
Technical College, so that we can begin to relate to practical technical
training with the training we receive in school.”
“Benin city is
a transportation hub - that is why the automobile business in this
state is quite large. And as part of our strategic plan to make sure we
have that competitive advantage, we would like to have institutions or
initiatives like this that feed into our own plans.
“As you know,
under the ECTS - Edo State Transport Service, with the Comrade Bus
initiative, most of the drivers are female. We want to put more money
into that initiative, and more importantly, we want to give them the
capacity not only to drive those buses, and the new ones we are going to
purchase, but to also maintain this process. We in Edo State
Government will support and we will get other partners to support it”,
the Governor promised.
Earlier, the founder and coordinator of
the female mechanic initiative, Mrs. Sandra Aguebor said she has been
able to train and empower over one thousand female mechanics in Nigeria
since inception in five states – Lagos, Benin, Kaduna, Kano and Abuja.
She said, “Your Excellency, we are here to work with you. That burning
passion that has been there for a long time, I can see that these girls
will do more than we have done today. Coca Cola has just prepared the
ground.”
According to Mrs. Aguebor, “We want to scale up on what
we are already doing. Your Excellency, Sandra Aguebor is here to
support your administration. I have not got one sponsorship from the
government of Edo State, but this time, I am very optimistic that it
will happen. We want to be part of your administration, and a lot of
these girls already have jobs. I think with you today, I also perceive
that you are going to give employment to some of them.”
Edo Governor Obaseki, Promises to engage female mechanics to Maintain Govt vehicles [photos]
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