Ini Billie, Uyo
Over 400 Akwa Ibom female youths have received empowerment packages after skills acquisition training to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the Family Empowerment and Youth Reorientation Path Initiative (FEYReP).
FEYReP is the initiative set up by the wife of the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Dr Martha Udom Emmanuel. The initiative is meant to fight gender-based violence (SBV) and other types of abuses against females, empower young ladies and women to be financially independent and provide economic and emotional support to their families.
It was learnt that the beneficiaries of the training scheme which were drawn from the thirty-one local government areas of the state received sewing machines, hair dryers, cobbling machines, cash and other items to start their vocation.
Mrs Emmanuel, who spoke during the FEYReP anniversary celebration in Ibom Hall, Uyo warned beneficiaries against selling the items, noting that her goal is to ensure that women, especially wives and mothers are gainfully engaged to add value to their different families.
“No woman should remain a housewife so that you can support your husbands,” she said.
She listed the programmes and achievements of FEYReP for the past seven years to include, girls, upholding your dignity, a bright future for responsible boys, the shelter of hope, following your star, fight against gender-based violence, pregnacare and various kinds of medical interventions amongst others.
She said, “We have carefully tailored our works around the 16 sustainable development goals of the United Nations”.
In the area of “Girls Uphold Your Dignity” campaign, Emmanuel said FEYReP took enlightenment messages on HIV and AIDS, VVF, teenage pregnancy, rape and the rights of the girl child to secondary schools across the state.
She stated that the “Bright Future for Responsible Boys” was born out of the fact that the boy child appears neglected, and left dangling on the cliff of social ruins, consumed by drug abuse/ addiction, cultism, rape, promiscuity and other vices.
Accordingly, she noted that FEYReP began the campaign to educate boys on sexual orientation and the need for financial independence, adding that the innovative approach has rescued young boys from the clutches of abandonment and neglect.
In the “Fight Against Gender-Based Violence” Mr Emmanuel who is also the Chairperson of the GBV Committee in the State, stated that the team built a State GBV Rehabilitation Centre in Uyo, and established Sexual Assault Referral Centre across the three senatorial districts in the state, along with free medical care.
For the “Shelter Of Hope Project”, the Governor’s wife said FEYReP has successfully built, furnished and delivered 62 two and three units of bedroom bungalows to the poor and indigent citizens of Akwa Ibom in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
On the “Martha Pregnacare Programme”, she said the outreach programme has helped to reduce infant morbidity and maternal mortality in the state.
She added that over 7,000 expectant mothers across the 31 local government areas have received free medicare, cash, as well as delivery kits in an exercise conducted in ten phases.
She further listed free surgical intervention, eye restoration scheme, deworming exercise, educational intervention, presentation of grants and scholarships to students in tertiary institutions, back to school for students and entrepreneurial support for women empowerment, as some of the major achievements of FEYReP in the last seven years.
While speaking, Governor Udom Emmanuel applauded his wife, Martha for standing in the gap for the less privileged and expressed satisfaction with the impact she has made in the past seven years.
He assured Mrs Emmanuel of his unwavering support for the ongoing fight against Gender-Based Violence and expressed disappointment over sexual abuses by parents against children.
“Thank you for standing by me to leave this state better than we met it,” he said.
However, the Governor lamented the high level of moral decadence in the society and called on parents, religious organisations and traditional institutions to rise to the responsibility of training the children, especially boys, saying the gesture would help curb the menace in the society.