A Muslim group, Ar-Rahaman Empowerment Foundation, has sponsored 30 apprentices to acquire skills in different crafts and also provided them with working tools to start up their individual businesses so as to be self-sustained.

The working tools were presented to the apprentices at the colourful ceremony held at NASFAT Hall in Osogbo, capital of Osun State. Speaking at the occasion, the President of Ar-Rahaman Empowerment Foundation, Malam Mutiu Bamidele, said the group saw the need to help the youths to embark on productive venture and become successful in life.

He explained that apart from sponsoring the 30 youths through their apprenticeship, the group procured working tools worth N1.6 million for the beneficiaries to be able to ply the skill they acquired and make legitimate income.

In his keynote address, the Editor of Saturday Tribune newspaper, Alhaji Lasisi Olagunju, commended the Muslim group for the initiative and urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the opportunity to succeed and also help others when they become successful.

Olagunju urged wealthy Nigerians to support the group to be able to do more for the youths. “When I met the members of the Ar-Rahaman Empowerment Foundation and they told me that they want to empower some youths, I felt that they themselves needed empowerment. Therefore, we must support them to sustain this good initiative,” he said.

A governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Barrister Kayode Oduoye (PDP) and commended the Muslim group for diverting the attention of the youth from criminal activities by giving them means of livelihood.

Dignitaries on the occasion included the Baba Adeen of Osogbo, Senator Bayo Salami; former Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress in Osun State, Alhaji Kayode Aliyu Afolabi; Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Engineer Nurudeen Adeagbo; Permanent Secretary of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Abdul Fatai Kolawole; and the Publisher of Aljezeerah magazine, Alhaji Dawood Ajetunmobi.

•Photo shows PDP governorship aspirant in Osun, Barr. Kayode Oduoye, assisted by the President of Ar-Rahaman Empowerment Foundation, Malam Mutiu Bamidele, presenting a sewing machine to one of the beneficiaries.

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