Images of the training programmes for vulnerable residents in Lagos State.
As part of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus of the Federal Government (NG-CARES), “Lagos Cares,” a World Bank-assisted intervention programme, has started a four-week technical and vocational training programme for disadvantaged and vulnerable residents in three Local Government Areas of Lagos State.
The acting state project coordinator, Mr. Basit Baruwa, stated at a forum held on Thursday at the Women Development Centre in Lagos that the programme was provided free of charge to participants and that there was no training fee. He also stated that the beneficiaries were chosen based on merit to ensure a smooth and effective coordination of the process.
Baruwa reiterated that the assistance project is anticipated to target households and microbusinesses from the informal sector for empowerment and that the Government is ready to empower the beneficiaries at the conclusion of the training session.
The Coordinator asserted that an orientation exercise had already been organised for project staff who will work at the grassroots level for the success of the programme, noting that the programme was designed to increase the social safety net and minimise the untold hardship being faced by the people due to the global pandemic.
The programme was developed by the Federal Government with assistance from the World Bank to lessen the hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic through various skill acquisition training and empowerment support, according to Mrs. Toyin Salami, Head of the Livelihood Support Delivery Platform.
She said: “The objective of the livelihood programme is to provide short soft skills training, as well as one-off payments, to support economically active and self-employed young women in Lagos State. Beneficiaries for the livelihood grants will be selected using the State Social Register at the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget”.
“The livelihood support team will further conduct a physical verification exercise for the final selection of beneficiaries. The household member selected for the grant must be productive and agile to engage in some form of micro-enterprise. There is an approved grants size to be disbursed ranging from N20,000 to N200,000 based on the screening of micro-business plans submitted by the beneficiaries”, Salami added.
Salami emphasised the significance of the training programme while pointing out that, despite the launch of numerous social protection programmes in recent years, the coverage of safety net programmes for vulnerable individuals has not met its stated goals.
She did, however, disclose that a number of initiatives are being carried out to strengthen coordination and implementation of interventions aimed at safeguarding the weak and the poor, reduce fragmentation among smaller Adhoc safety net programmes, and establish institutional frameworks at the Federal, State, and Local Government levels.
The Head of the Livelihood Support Delivery platform added that 2,145 participants from Ikorodu, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, and Apapa LGAs in Lagos State are already receiving free training in 13 professions.