Obiano creates his own SURE-P in Anambra, offers jobs to 1000 physically challenged persons

Governor Willie Obiano of Anam­bra State, has pledged to engage 1000 physically challenged

persons in various jobs in support of the empower­ment programme of the Caring Family Enhance­ment Initiative (CAFÉ), an NGO founded by his wife Ebelechukwu.

The engage­ment which is for a period of one-year, is in line with the SURE-P Graduate Intern­ship Scheme for Anambra State, will involve the pay­ment of a monthly stipend of N30, 000.00 each to the beneficiaries.

Governor Obiano made the announcement in further­ance of his administration’s empowerment programme for youths while flagging off the SURE-P GIS Scheme in which the first batch of 200 graduates shortlisted by CAFÉ out of the 1000 slots for the state were formally en­gaged, Tuesday, at the Women Development Centre, Awka.

According to gover­nor Obiano, “the additional 1000 jobs for the physically-challenged persons, is also our way of empowering the youths of the State. I am grateful to the federal gov­ernment for introducing the SURE-P GIS which prepares youths for national challenge and addresses the problems of unemployment and poverty. That is one of the reasons why we should vote President Jonathan.” Obiano added.

Speaking on the role of CAFÉ in ensuring that Anam­bra youths take advantage of the SURE-P GIS Scheme, the wife of the governor, Mrs. Obiano expressed delight with the launch of the SURE-P Scheme in the State, describ­ing it as a social safety net that serves the purpose of provid­ing a short-term employment to graduates to enable them gain some work experience and increase their chances of getting employment.

Mrs Obiano explained that the State has an alloca­tion of 1000 out of which her pet project was allotted 200 slots by SURE-P Of­fice under the scheme and empowerment programme, noting that SURE-P’s other objectives geared towards reducing graduate vulner­ability and building the man­power base for our national development is similar to what obtains in her pet proj­ect. “At CAFE, we advocate reducing the vulnerability of women and young people and promotion of the dignity of the physically-challenged persons. CAFÉ also deploys its meager resources towards the uplifting of widows, or­phans, vulnerable children and persons with disabilities. Through CAFÉ, we set out to improve the fortunes of many women through empower­ment initiatives targeted at both skilled and non-skilled persons as well as indigent women.”

The wife of the governor explained that within one year of existence of CAFÉ, she had undertaken the training and empowerment of many widows and young women in various skills and voca­tional programmes, specify­ing that her pet project had demonstrated its commitment and support to the administra­tion of governor Obiano by empowering a total of 273 women and men during the occasion of the one year an­niversary event at Ekwueme Square, Awka.

She stated that CAFÉ’s collaboration with SURE-P Scheme to improve the for­tunes of graduates under the SURE-P GIS programme, is a result of ”our persistence and search for employment op­portunities for the youths of Anambra when we stumbled on the opportunities available under the SURE-P GIS which hitherto was not exploited by our State. The fact that we are engaging the shortlisted and registered candidates at­tests to the commitment of my team at CAFÉ, the sup­port of the Anambra State government and the fairness of SURE-P officials in the allocation of employment op­portunities to various states.”