BY OKEY NDIRIBE

First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan has expressed confidence that the driving culture within the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, would change when the first batch of 200 trainees of the Lady Chaffeur Training Scheme  begin to drive within Abuja.

Mrs Jonathan expressed this view in Abuja  while delivering her speech at the launch of the Lady Chaffeur scheme by the National Directorate of Employment, NDE.

She further praised the aspiring lady trainees, adding that it was another opportunity for Nigerian women to excel in a skill hitherto regarded as an exclusive preserve for men.

The First Lady further expressed hope that the young  lady drivers would become change agtents by bringing the feminine virtues of caring, carefulness and patience to bear on the way we conduct ourselves on the road.

She further  showered encomiums on NDE, adding that the body had consistently pursued the task of creating jobs for our teeming unemployed youths through training in several skills.

Mrs Jonathan further stated that she was impressed that Nigerians had realised the strategic importance of women in any change process, adding that as change agents Nigerian women were ready to contribute their quota to socio-economic development of the nation.

In his own remarks at the occasion, the Minister of Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu, stated that the scheme was carefully designed to empower unemployed women within the FCT and its environs, adding that the increasing number of unemployed women was a serious threat to government.

Said he: “Our focus on young women in this schme is based on the realisation that women have an important role to play  in our national socio-economic development. They constitute about half of the population, forming about 70 percent of the agricultural labour force and largely dominating the informal sector sactivities”.

He expressed regret that evidence indicates that young women  face greater difficulties in finding employment than young men in our society.

In his own speech at the event, the Managing Director of NDE Mallam Abubakar Mohammed stated that. The occasion was another milestone in the efforts of NDE to towards creating employment opportunities for Nigerian youths with special emphasis on women who are more vulnerable among the unemployed.

He further stated that NDE had tackled unemployment in the country through through its various training programmes adding that the goal is to create a new generation of young and enterprising Nigerians who will be able to chart a new course for our future economic well-being.