Guardian

AS part of its contribution to youth empowerment and capacity building, the Nigerian Bottling Company, recently said it has invested N75 million on the training of lady mechanics for five years.

The company stated this in Benin City during the graduation ceremony of the first batch of Lady mechanics under the scheme, where the Minister of Youth Development, Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, said youth unemployment was a national concern which required a multi-sectoral approach.

Represented by the Director of Youth Development, Lucas Jonathan, Abdul-Kadir described the ceremony as unique as it was the first of its kind in the history of the country where such a large number of female youth have benefited from the goodwill of a corporate entity.

“By this singular act of training 50 young ladies for three years as Auto Mechanics, which include internship placement in reputable Automobile Outfit such as Peugeot Automobile Nigeria, Toyota Nigeria Limited, Honda Motors, Mitsubishi Chanrai and Tata Motors, Nigerian Bottling Company PLC, has not only fulfilled its corporate responsibility obligations, but has demonstrated its passion for the upliftment our teeming youth, particularly, the women folk”, the Minister said.

He said his ministry would be willing to partner with NBC in the implementation of its Youth Empowerment Programmes in the spirit of the Public Private Partnership Initiative.

In her speech, initiator of the Lady Mechanics Programme, Mrs Sandra Aguebor-Akperuah said the programme was changing the perception of Edo as female trafficker to female mechanics, adding that the goal of the programme is to empower young girls and women.

On his part, Managing Director of NBC, Ben Lagnat expressed comitment to training of the remaining two 50 batches of trainees.