The National Commission for Mass-Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC) on Friday empowered thirty people from five Southwest States with vocational skill materials.
NMEC also donated vocational skill materials and equipment and equipment to two correctional facilities in Southwest Nigeria.
The commission gave equipment to support vocational skill acquisition of inmates at the Ilesha Correctional Facility in Osun State and Agodi Correctional Facility in Ibadan, Oyo State.
DCC Otubu Oluwatosin collected the materials on behalf of the Agodi Correctional Facility, while SC Ladesuji Adebowale collected on behalf of the Ilesha Correctional Facility.
The materials were given during the Southwest zonal presentation of vocational skills materials and equipment to participants in the commission’s initiative tagged “Literacy through Economic Empowerment Strategy (LEES).
The event took place at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Ibadan.
Thirty participants from Southwest states, including Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti, benefited from the initiative, receiving vocational skill materials and equipment worth several million naira.
Speaking at the event, the Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. John Ejeh Onimisi, said the LEES initiative aligns with goals 2, 4, and 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Dr. Onimisi maintained that the commission developed the initiative after realizing that economic empowerment through vocational training is a potent tool to promote adult and non-formal education among Nigerians.
The NMEC’s Acting Executive Secretary said the preliminary mapping carried out by the commission revealed that 46% of 206,000 people sampled needed to be encouraged to embrace non-formal education through economic empowerment.
Onimisi explained that the initiative, which started last year, targets to reach out to many youths and adults without formal education in all six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. He urged state governments to replicate the commission’s initiative and complement its efforts in their respective states, stressing that Nigeria cannot move forward if informal education is neglected.
Also in her speech, Mrs. Nnenna Ejieji, the HOD, Vocational and Continuing Education, maintained that the initiative is to empower youths and adults without formal education. Mrs. Ejieji disclosed that the LEES initiative aimed to empower participants with vocational skills in five different areas: catering, fashion designing, shoe and bag making, barbing, and makeup.
The Southwest Zonal Coordinator of the commission, Mrs. Funke Lawal, commended participants and urged them to make proper use of the vocational skill materials and equipment given to them.
