No fewer than 1,000
people in Omu-Aran, Kwara, on Thursday received certificate of participation in a free training on skills and vocations.
The facilitator of the programme, Alhaji Olatunji Olawuyi, disclosed this during the presentation of certificates to participants in the training.
He said the initiative, aimed at reducing unemployment at the grass roots, was organised under the Irepodun Youth and Women Empowerment Programme.
Olawuyi, who is also an All Progressives Congress chairmanship candidate for the October 26 election in Irepodun Local Government Area, failed to disclose the cost of organising the programme.
He explained: “No sacrifice is too much or big for me to ensure improvement in the living standard of the people of my community.
“This is our token way of giving back to the society by improving their standard of living.
“It is our desire to promote and improve the level of entrepreneurship in the council through training on basic skills and vocations for the people to be self-sufficient.”
Olawuyi said the project, which would be in phases, was targeted at the less privileged in the community.
He said the training would afford people the opportunity to contribute their quota to the society, especially their immediate surroundings, and to also take care of their needs.
The training was also meant to help curb youth restiveness, occasioned by high rate of unemployment, he added.
A participant from Oko, a suburb of Ilorin, Mr Ezekiel Abolarin, described the initiative as laudable.
“This is an experience of a lifetime that has changed my belief and shown that antenna fabrication and soap making can be successfully done locally,” he said.
People from Omu-Aran, Oko, Arandun and Ipetu participated in the four-day training programme.