The wife of the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano has called for the stoppage of girl-child marriage.
She made the call recently while speaking to community leaders and stakeholders during tour of border communities of Mkpunando Otu, Enugwu Otu and Eziagulu Otu Aguleri in Anambra East Local Government Area.
Mrs. Obiano urged parents in the communities to train their daughters first in education and allow them to mature before giving them out in marriage.
Said Mrs. Obiano, “The sight of young girls with pregnancies and some carrying babies is not encouraging. The way to get the best out of these girls is not early marriage but by ensuring that they are trained and able to fend for themselves. We have set up centres where they can be trained on handcrafts and other trades, I want you to encourage them to learn something new and I can assure you, they will make every one proud.”
The governors’ wife and founder of Caring Family Enhancement Initiative (CAFÉ) took the initiative for the girl-child training by opening a Skills Acquisition centre at Enugwu Otu to serve the three communities and environ.
Already, the centre has enrolled two hundred boys and girls currently training in Tailoring and Fashion design, Computer training, Soap making, Bakery and confectionery and Vulcanizing services.
Commissioning the centre, Mrs. Obiano said that youths of the neighboring communities now have opportunity to learn new trade and equip themselves with life sustaining skills while assuring of her readiness to empower trainees who graduate from the centre with equipment and start-up capital in line with the practice of her NGO, CAFÉ, and charged the trainees to make good use of the centre.
Mrs. Obiano also advocated peaceful and harmonious living among the communities of Mkpunando Otu and Enugwu Otu and avoidance of any disagreement that may lead to communal clash since they were brothers and that only peaceful co-existence can promote development and opening up of the area.
She recalled that her first visit to the area was by pontoon due to lack of access roads and praised the commitment of the governor Obiano in opening up agrarian communities like theirs with construction of a new bridge which had made possible travel to the area by road, even as she called on them to sustain support for the governor and his team with prayers.
Speaking at the occasion, Special Adviser Political to the Governor on Political Matters, and a son of the community, Hon. Chinedu Obidigwe, expressed happiness that Mrs. Obiano and her husband, the governor had fulfilled their promises to people of the area especially by giving them access to the rest of Anambra.
He said it was on record that the wife of the governor had visited the area five times in three years and assured that the people were happy and ready to give the governor one hundred percent support in the next elections.
Also speaking, the Transition Committee Chairman of Anambra East Local Government Area, Hon. Pius Ifeadi thanked the wife of the governor for visiting the border communities and seeing to their welfare saying that the people were united in support for the governor because of his numerous achievements and would vote massively for APGA and the governor in the November elections.
Earlier in their welcome addresses, the women leaders of the three communities: Mrs. Francisca Ananwude of Nkpunando Otu, Mrs. Ngozi Okagbue of Enugwu Otu and Mrs. Patricia Nwokedi at Eziagulu Otu praised Mrs. Obiano for dedication to caring for the less privileged and ensuring that the governor was attending to the needs of different communities through projects that were geared to improve their lives of Ndi Anambra.
They also made several requests on behalf of women of the communities and gave assurances of support for the governor.
The highlight of the community tour was the distribution of empowerment equipment like grinding machines, sewing machines and food items like rice, school bags, and exercise books to select widows, children and the physically challenged.
Photo: Wife of Governor of Anambra State, Chief Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano cutting the tape to commission CAFÉ CARES Skills Acquisition Centre at Enugwu Out. She is flanked on the (Right) by Commissioner for Social Welfare, Children & Women Affairs, Wife of the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Oby Okeke and (Left) Rev Fr. Pascal Wife of National Chairman of APGA, Iyom Mary Oye among other dignitaries.
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