83 female IDPs empowered by the Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace

No fewer than 83 women from the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Kabusa, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have benefited from the Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP) skills acquisition programme.

Rev. Sister Agatha Chikelue, Executive Director, COFP, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday during the women’s graduation ceremony in Abuja.

Chikelue said the aim of the programme was to empower the women and promote peace by bringing women from different religions and ethnic backgrounds together to learn as a team.

“The aim of this programme is to empower these women who have been displaced by insurgency and make them economically independent, now, and when they return to their homes.

“We are also here to promote peace through this empowerment programme by bringing both Christians and Muslims to learn together,“ she said.

The executive director said the women were trained for two weeks on how to make pastries such as cake, doughnuts, meat pie, egg and fish roll, puff-puff, chin- chin; liquid soap, air-freshener and beads.

She enjoined the beneficiaries to help others by teaching them what they had learnt, urging them to live in peace, irrespective of religious and ethnic differences.

“Our message to you is to live in peace wherever you find yourself. We did not divide you during the training, you all worked together as a team.

“God created everyone, both Christian and Muslim, so we must learn to live in peace despite our religious and ethnic differences.”

The Chairman of the IDP Camp, Mr Umaru Gosa, thanked COFP for the laudable project, and prayed God to bless the foundation for its love and kindness.

Gosa urged the beneficiaries to be hardworking by continuing with what they had learnt in order to achieve their goals and help their families.

A beneficiary, Mrs Amina Ali, who spoke to NAN, also thanked COFP for empowering them, adding that she was indeed happy.

“We have been seeing all these things but we did not know how to make them. We are very happy and we are going to give heed to the training, we will teach other people and our children,“ she promised.

NAN reports that highpoints at the event include: Issuing certificates and start-up kits to the beneficiaries as well as the cutting of graduation cake by the beneficiaries.

(NAN)