National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has empowered 100 youths from Gaya, Ajingi and Albasu local government areas of Kano State with tailoring equipment to enable them to establish their businesses.
The beneficiaries received the equipment after completing a six-week intensive training programme in tailoring.
At the programme’s closing ceremony in Gaya, NASENI executive vice chairman, Khalil Halilu, said the initiative was designed to equip young people with practical skills for self-reliance.
Halilu, who was represented by the agency’s director of Finance, Muhammad Al-Hassan, said the programme went beyond the provision of machines, stressing that human capital development was critical to Nigeria’s industrial and economic growth.
He said the beneficiaries received both theoretical and practical training as well as start-up materials to enable them begin their businesses immediately.
According to him, the initiative would help reduce the financial barriers often faced by young people and women seeking to establish businesses.
“Tailoring is not just merely a craft; it is an enterprise. It is a pathway to self-employment, income generation and economic independence, particularly for our youths and women who continue to face significant barriers to formal employment,” he said.
Halilu urged the beneficiaries to use the equipment effectively and consider themselves future entrepreneurs and employers of labour.
He also advised them to form cooperatives and support groups to facilitate collective sourcing of materials, access to customers and mutual support. In his remarks, the Chairman of Gaya Local Government Area, Mahmud Tajo, described the programme as significant, saying it would help address unemployment and improve the socio-economic well-being of youths and women.
He said the empowerment program would promote self-reliance and help reduce crime among youth in the communities. The Emir of Gaya, Alhaji Aliyu Abdulkadir, commended NASENI for extending the programme to the emirate.
He urged the beneficiaries not to sell the equipment but to use it to establish sustainable businesses.
