DIKE COMMISSIONS NAOWA SKILL ACQUISITION CENTRE

By NBF News

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshall Paul Dike, has commissioned the multi-million naira Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association Skills Acquisition centre in Abuja.

The centre, which is located at the Mambilla Barracks, is the pet project of the wife of the Chief of Army Staff, Mrs. Hadiza Dambazau, who is also the national president of NAOWA, to equip wives of officers and soldiers with skills that would lead to their economic empowerment and help them live above poverty level.

In his address at the commissioning, Dike, commended Mrs. Dambazau for her foresight, vision and deep sense of social responsibility to establish the centre. He said that the centre would empower the barrack community and its environment, adding that the growing rate of unemployed people living in military barracks across the country has remained a major concern to the authorities.

He pointed out that while the Defence Headquarters has gone into partnership with some consulting firms to conduct skills acquisition training workshops, for spouses and dependants of personnel in military formations, the establishment of the NAOWA skill acquisition centre 'will definitely give additional impetus to the attainment of the noble objective of empowering the unemployed in our barracks to be self-employed or become employers of labour.'

Dike expressed the hope that staff as well as trainees at the centre would make judicious use of the available facilities and opportunities provided at the centre to alleviate poverty.

Earlier in her address, the NAOWA president said the ultra-modern centre, which is fully equipped and staffed with qualified instructors, offers technical and vocational training in Secretarial Studies, Catering and Hotel Management, Fashion and Clothing Technology, Cosmetology and Beauty Therapy as well as Information Technology. It also has a fitness centre

She said plans are under way to affiliate the centre with reputable institutions in Nigeria and get it accredited by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), so that the certificates acquired from the centre will be accepted in the larger society.