By Daniel Tyokua
As part of the activities to mark his 64th birthday, Vice President Professor Yemi Osibanjo has donated 64 sewing machines to support indigent women in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Osibanjo, who presented the items to the women through the Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA) in Abuja yesterday, explained that the gesture was meant to train and empower indigent women in the FCT.
Represented by the his special adviser on community engagement and civic interventions, Olatoyosin Enyinolakpo, the vice president said his office has always collaborated with the AEA, in the past few years, to ensure that indigent women receive trainings and loans from the agency.
He stated that the AEA has the enabling environment and structure for beneficiaries, adding that the donation of the machines coincided with his 64th birthday, since the equipment arrived this week.
Receiving the items, on behalf of the agency, managing director/chief executive officer of AEA Arabi Tukur Muhammad said the donation would enhance empowerment efforts of the agency and boost its support for MSMEs.
Muhammad noted that the intervention would go a long way in helping indigent people in the FCT, adding that the 64 sewing machines would be given to 64 indigent women in territory, after they are trained in a fashion institute, which would commence this month.
He added that the fashion institute would enroll and graduate people yearly, to provide employment, create jobs, improve livelihoods of people and curb youth restiveness in the FCT.
