Nigeria: Mafita Offers Employment Advice

The Mafita Women and Youth Development Initiative has encouraged women and youths in Nigeria to seek technical and vocational training amidst the high unemployment rate in the country.

Chairperson of the non-governmental organisation (NGO), Theresa Orude, made the call during a one-day business summit organised for women and youths in Miri, Bauchi State, northeast Nigeria.

She said the challenge of unemployment in the country should be a wake-up call for women and youths to become innovative.

‘We must realise that no country can provide jobs for all its citizens, and as such, you must start thinking of setting up your businesses or companies to add value to the system. This is a reality that Nigerians must come to terms with’, Nigerian Tribune quoted Orude as saying.

Data from the World Bank shows that four in ten Nigerians live below the country’s national poverty line.

‘We have discovered that many housewives are not doing anything at home and depend solely on their husbands’, Orude added.

‘The few women and youth that are engaged in business are struggling because they lack the requisite skills to grow the business or expand it.

‘Mafita is coming with the goal to fill that gap through the creation of awareness of potentials that women and youth carry and how they can exploit these God-given gifts and opportunities to start and become employers of labour’.

Orude called on well-meaning Nigerians and philanthropists to support the NGO in its quest to reach out to women and youths to reduce poverty and promote peace among communities.

For his part, the Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the state, Nura Kobi, represented by Mary Keffas Magaji, commended Orude for setting up Mafita to empower women and youths.

Kobi reiterated the commitment of the Agency to partner with the NGO to reach more women and youths, particularly those residing in rural and hard-to-reach communities.

Photo source: Zouzou Wizman

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