We Must Empower The Unemployed Now — Akande

Mrs Mulikat Adeola Akande (OFR) is the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. She recently empowered the second batch of 150 unemployed constituents in the five local government councils making up her constituency. She spoke to Sakin Babalola
What advice would you give to your colleagues on how to assist the jobless or the under employed youths in our society in view of the danger posed by unemployment in the country?
Definitely, I am a Lawmaker, an Honourable member representing Ogbomoso South/Ogbomoso North/Surulere/ Orire Federal Counstituency in Oyo state, I am an individual. Definitely every member in the National Assembly has plans for his or her constituents. So, I cannot say what I am doing for my constituents is what other legislators should do. But I think as Representatives generally, we should be able to represent our people well and impact on their lives positively in any way we can. You don’t have to do it in my own way. What I am doing now to impact other people’s lives, others can do so in other ways. So, it is a question of priority for the individuals. What you want to do in your own constituency may be different from what others may want to do. This is because what applies in the South west may not apply in the South East or North East. So, I think it is a question of priority and what you think your people need at the appropriate time.

Some months ago, you empowered 50 youths after their Skill acquisition training for a week at Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Ibadan. In this particular programme, we could see that additional areas of training like poultry and others were added to the first empowerment programmes which were in fish farming, hair dressing, fashion design and others. How come this addition?
We found out more areas of interest to the people. It is not just saying come for training and then force people to do what they are not interested in. If you are interested in fashion design and you are taught fish farming, you would do better in the area where your interest is. You cannot be forced to train where you will not benefit. We encourage them to train in their preferred areas which will make their dreams come into reality in terms of being self employed and in addition employ others in the nearest future. And you can see a lot of women in this class. So I encourage the young boys and girls to be gainfully employed and I think that is very good and beneficial to them .If you educate a woman, you educate a nation. So, the more women we have the better for the nation.

The logistics you provided include N100,000 for each of the participants. How did you arrive at such an amount? Do you think it will meet their needs?
Oh yes. I think it is even more than okay. If you heard my speech when I was addressing them, I gave them analysis. It depends on what you want to do. We have already calculated the cost implication of the project. If you want to start making dresses, an average sewing machine is about N15,000. With that amount, you can buy three sewing machines. And that is why I am saying that it is not just being gainfully employed alone, they would also be able to employ two or more persons to assist them. So, we have calculated carefully and arrived at the conclusion that the N100,000 is more than sufficient to establish their trades.

You also hinted that a new empowerment program me would come up in a couple of months. Would you mind expatiating on this?
Normally, I said we are going to have more empowerment programs. I do this on a yearly basis. I am going to do the next one, God willing, in February. Then I will distribute sewing machines, dryers, motorcycles, grinding machines, generators and deep freezers among others. The deep freezers would be for those interested in selling iced blocks. And then we give bursaries to students. We will pick those students from my constituency and from various institutions. We will also empower widows and farmers as well. We will not leave out associations because these are the people who voted for us.

What is your assessment of this particular programme of today. We could read excitement and appreciation on the faces of the 150 beneficiaries?
Thank you very much. I would not have felt otherwise. In other words, I also feel excited and fulfilled. Oh , I always feel happy each time I find myself touching the lives of the needy. This is because we are giving them a source of livelihood. My priority has always been to help the poor and the needy who are not gainfully employed. From today’s  programme, you could see that there are 150 beneficiaries who had been trained in various vocations  and they are now going to establish themselves   after the rigorous training at CRIN.I am sure that they would apply the skills that they have acquired in the course of training to  better their lots. Honestly, I am happy to do this for my constituents.
Culled: Leadership