Ondo State is to partner with the African Development Bank (AfDB) in women empowerment and social development.
First Lady of the state, Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, made the appeal for collaboration in Akure, the state capital during a technical session with a visiting AfDB group management team led by its Senior Director, and head of the Nigerian Country Office, Mr. Ebirima Faal, who pledged the support of AfDB to the programmes of the office of the wife of the governor.
The First Lady recounted some of the landmark achievements of her office within one year in office including ICT training for 105 girls from across Ondo State, where each of the participants got a tablet, Solar Renewable Energy training for over 200 girls from the state and skill acquisition training for over 1,000 women in five Local Government Areas of the state through her women empowerment programme, FOWOSA, where a hundred women and girls also received laptops.
Other empowerment initiatives under her pet project are accelerated birth registration, massive breast cancer awareness campaign among others.
The First Lady pointed out that the accomplishments were made despite huge debts inherited by the Akeredolu administration on assumption of office.
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She called for AfDB’s collaboration towards giving Ondo women and children the much desired dividends of democracy in the area of quality healthcare delivery, maternal and child mortality reduction, poverty alleviation as well as gender parity among others.
Faal commended Mrs. Akeredolu for her passionate work in the state, stressing that it was in line with what the AfDB is committed to.
Another member of the AfDB management team, Linda Amadi, also commended the First Lady for her community oriented programmes and projects which she said guaranteed sustainability.
She also acknowledged that Mrs. Akeredolu was embarking on areas of interest to the bank, emphasising that AfDB had jobs for youths in its Africa Initiative which was likely to generate about 25 million jobs for the youths within the next 10 years.
The team further assured Mrs. Akeredolu of women inclusion in AfDB activities and programmes.
