As part of its efforts towards empowering women in Nigeria, Procter & Gamble (P&G) Nigeria, a leading consumer goods manufacturing company, has entered into a strategic partnership with the Nigerian Government on advancing the cause of the Growing Girls and Women in Nigeria (G-Win) initiative in the country.
In the partnership, which was sealed at a ceremony held at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja yesterday, P&G Nigeria will provide training resources, in the form of facilities and personnel, for G-Win to train the selected candidates.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, and George Nassar, Managing Director, P&G Nigeria signed the agreement on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and P&G Nigeria, respectively.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Minister said that the G-Win programme will provide structured trainings and skill acquisition to girls and women in the country, especially those from the disadvantaged backgrounds, in order to equip them to better contribute to the overall growth and development of the country.
The Minister informed that the G-Win is an innovative program being implemented through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministries of Finance, Communication Technology, Water Resources, Health, Agriculture and Women Affairs for the empowerment of Nigerian girls and women.
According to her, each of the participating ministries receives extra-budgetary finance to develop and/or expand initiatives that catalyze the potentials of Nigerian women.
She commended P&G Nigeria for their thoughtfulness in aligning with the Federal Government on this program and called on other corporate organizations to come on board to the program for a much bigger impact.
George Nassar informed that P&G already has initiatives that are targeted at the empowerment of girls and women in the country, such as the investment of USD 1 million in the Always/UNESCO program which will empower some 60,000 girls and women with basic literacy and skills development and will integrate some of the disadvantaged girls and women involved in the G-Win program into these initiatives.
According to him, “Our decision to partner the Federal Government on G-Win is borne out of our desire to empower and uplift Nigerians, especially women. We will work with the relevant government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to expand the program’s geographical and numerical reach.”
He further informed that P&G will support the program in providing the beneficiaries with basic business management training, literacy skills and other relevant training that will ensure the beneficiaries’ success in the management of their businesses.
He added that P&G has through its numerous programs, with the most recent being the Always/UNESCO Girls and Women’s Empowerment program, shown the need to elevate the status of girls and women in the society and said that the G-Win initiative is a good cause to support.
