The Bureau for Entrepreneurship and Wealth Creation (BEWC) has issued certificates to eleven (11) residents of Benue State who had undergone and successfully completed a four-month training course in Fashion and Design, pledging to empower them. This took place on Tuesday during a graduation ceremony held in honour of the graduands at the entrepreneurship centre in Makurdi.
The Bureau’s Director General, Ms. Benita Shuluwa, who was represented at the occasion by the Special Adviser to Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia on Women Affairs and State Coordinator of Renew Hope Initiative, Hon. Scholastica Terngu Ben-Sor, said the graduation is part of Governor Alia’s administration’s aim to drive entrepreneurship and empowerment programmes in the state. She noted that the goal is to educate people towards wealth creation to help them be self-reliant, whether they excel in theoretical academics or otherwise.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Acting Director of Administration and Finance in the Bureau, Mr. Orinya Ogenyi, who gave the brief history of the Bureau, said it was created on December 14, 2023, to create sustainable wealth through income generation, entrepreneurship, job creation, and investment opportunities for the citizens of the state. He expressed delight that guests came to witness the Bureau fulfilling one of its strategic goals.
In their separate remarks, the Deputy Chairman of Vandeikya Local Government, Hon. Janet Orukuna, and Commissioner 1 in the Assembly Service Commission, Hon. Dorcas Faeren Mbatiav, who accompanied the Special Adviser to the Governor on Women Affairs to the occasion, charged the graduands to be good ambassadors of the state in their various endeavours and gave them financial support.
Presenting the certificates to the graduands, the head of training and Director of Fashion and Design, Mrs. Allison Amuta, revealed that some graduands had no prior knowledge of fashion when they enrolled but were happy that with passion and determination, they became proficient in the area. “They were able to make the dresses they are wearing today under close supervision”
Responding on behalf of the graduating students, the class course representative, Ohaerilam Francess Nwamaka, said the training was not a waste of time. She appreciated the management of the Bureau for the education and empowerment and assured that they would put all the skills they had acquired to full use.
