FEYReP at 7: A ‘Ibom 1st lady splashes cash, starter packs to over 400 young women
The wife of the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Dr Martha Emmanuel has given out certificates of completion and starter packs to over 400 female youths in the state to mark FEYReP at seven.
The gesture, according to Mrs Emmanuel is in line with one of the objectives of her pet project, Family Empowerment and Youth Reorientation Path Initiative (FEYReP), Which is to empower women to provide economic and emotional support to their families.
Speaking at the seventh-anniversary celebration of FEYReP in Ibom Hall, she explained that the beneficiaries were drawn from the thirty-one local government councils of the State on completion of their training in different vocations spanning tailoring, hairdressing, barbing and cobbling.
She listed items to be distributed to participants as sewing machines, hair dryers, cobbling machines, cash and other items needed to start the journey to entrepreneurship.
The First Lady warned beneficiaries against selling off the items saying that her goal is to ensure that women, especially wives and mothers are gainfully engaged to add value to their respective families.
“No woman should remain a housewife so that you cannot support your husbands”, she said.
In line with other objectives of FEYReP which include creating a platform to showcase successful families, advocating for the prevention of teenage pregnancy and education of the girl-child and creating a platform for promoting moral values and economic excellence in the youths, she said, FERYeP has devoted the past seven years to service to humanity in line with sustainable development goals.
She enumerated programmes and achievements she has so far executed to include; girls uphold your dignity, bright future for responsible boys, shelter of hope, follow your star, fight against gender-based violence, pregnacare and various kinds of medical interventions amongst others.
In her words “We have carefully tailored our works around the 16 sustainable development goals of the United Nations which are well captured in the following areas:
“GIRLS UPHOLD YOUR DIGNITY CAMPAIGN
FEYReP implemented the Girls uphold your dignity campaign which took enlightenment messages on HIV and AIDS, VVF, teenage pregnancy, rape and the rights of the girl child to secondary schools across the state.
“FIGHT AGAINST GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE:
As the Chairperson of the GBV Committee in the State, I and my team have built a State GBV Rehabilitation Centre in Uyo and established Sexual Assault Referral Centre across the three Senatorial District with free medical care.
“MARTHA PREGNACARE PROGRAMME:
An outreach Programme which is geared towards reducing infant morbidity and maternal mortality in the state where over 7000 expectant mothers across the 31 Local Government Areas have received free Medicare, cash, as well as delivery kits. This exercise has been conducted in 10 phases.
She thanked her husband, Governor Udom Emmanuel whom she declared as her pillar of support, donor agencies and members of her team for standing by her to drive her vision.
Earlier, the state Governor Mr Udom Emmanuel applauded his wife for standing in the gap for the less privileged and expressed satisfaction with the impact she has made in the past seven years,
“Thank you for standing by me to leave this state better than we met it”, he said.
The Governor however decried the high level of moral decadence in the society and harped on the need for parents, religious organizations and traditional institutions to rise to the responsibility of training the children, especially boys, as this would help curb the menace in the society.
He assured her of his unwavering support for her ongoing fight against Gender-Based Violence and expressed specifically his disappointment over sexual abuses by parents against children.
