The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is collaborating with a gender advocacy group, StandUp for Women Society (SWS) to bring succour to teenage mothers in Bayelsa.

Some 20 teenage mothers who dropped out of schools in Bayelsa have been re-enrolled for education and vocational skills acquisition training programmes for the first phase

The NCDMB funded initiative, implemented by SWS is in conjunction with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Legal Aid Community Development Service group.

The teenagers, selected from rural communities within Yenagoa Local Government Area, will undergo training in Fashion Design, Catering, Make-Up, and Hairdressing, for three months at the Bayelsa State International Institute of Tourism and Hospitality, located in the state capital.

Mr. Timbiri Augustine, Deputy Manager, Capacity Building, NCDMB, while speaking during the flag-off ceremony on Monday at the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality, Yenagoa, said the Board attaches so much importance on training and human capital development, hence the support for the training.

Augustine, who commended the stakeholders for initiating the training, underscored the importance of the training, adding that this is the first time this category of persons will be captured by the Board for skills acquisition training programme.

“We have noted that employment is limited but there is the entrepreneurship window that is open for all of us, there are only two ways to generate income either as a service provider or producer or both. This training will expose you to skills to become a service provider and a producer.

“We expect maximum commitments, you have a role to play, we are playing our own role, the trainers are expected to play their own role, as you are also expected to play your own role and remain committed and align with our expectations.

“We want to thank the stakeholders involved in this training, NCDMB knows the importance of partnership, and collaboration is one of our key priorities,” he said.

In his remarks, the Rector, Institute of Tourism and Hospitality, Prof. Apuega Arikawie, commended the NCDMB for utilizing the facilities offered by the Institute for its different trainings and for financing different training programmes in the Niger Delta and country at large.

He said: “As a way to empowering teenage mothers to have a scheme for themselves to enable them take care of the child, the NCDMB thought it wise to sponsor this particular programme. The programme will make them entrepreneurs and reduce criminality, poverty in the Niger Delta and other anti-social vices bedevilling the Niger Delta.”

In her speech, Ms Eunice Nnachi, Chairperson of SWS, Bayelsa Chapter, said the training programme aims to achieve social integration and giving hope to teenage mothers who have find themselves in the role of parenting at a tender age.

Nnachi explained that the trainees will be given stipends and starter packs to enable them to become self-reliant.

She noted that over one hundred teenage mothers have been captured and will undergo the skills acquisition training which will be carried out in different phases.

According to her, arrangements have been put in place to ensure that the programme is well monitored and supervised for optimal impact on the beneficiaries.

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