Lagos empowers 100 household heads

The Lagos State Government has empowered over 100 Orphans and vulnerable children household heads with economic strengthening tools in efforts to reduce the economic vulnerability of families in the state.

While presenting the empowerment tools to the beneficiaries at Correctional Centre for Junior Boys, Birrel, Yaba, the Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Dabiri Agboola said it was the desire of the state government to reduce the economic vulnerability of households and to empower them to be able to provide for the essential needs of their children.

According to the Commissioner, the economic empowerment which is the second phase for the group was aimed at reducing families vulnerability to poverty while increasing their economic independence, access to food security, school for their children and access to essential health services.

He added that the present beneficiaries were carefully selected and presented with the empowerment tools and have been able to address the gap and ensure the blending of the various marginalised groups across the state in the empowerment exercise.

“Unlike the previous empowerment programme were vulnerable households were selected using USAID/PEPFAR model, for this phase, we decided to put all vulnerable Lagosians into consideration by selecting beneficiaries from all the marginalised groups across the state,” he said.

The Commissioner charged the beneficiaries to inculcate saving schemes into their economic activities regardless of its size as saving schemes were one of the most critical element of helping families out of poverty and empowering them to care for their needs through diverse livelihood strategies.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Hakeem Muri-Okunola said that the empowerment programme was aimed at improving the means of livelihood of the households and to make them resilient to poverty.

He added that the empowerment tools had been tailored towards the vocations or trades of the selected beneficiaries of each household heads to provide for the essential needs of the Children in their care and to ensure that vulnerable children are able to access essential services, including safety, healthcare, education and other needs.

Muri-Okunola assured that the state government would leave nothing to chance by making sure that the empowerment’s programme reached as many households as possible in its continual efforts to give succor to the socially excluded households.