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42— Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019<br />
How INTELS empowers <strong>over</strong><br />
1000 women — Freeborn<br />
Women training and empowerment is one of the areas Nigerian women are<br />
expected to make a difference in life. Based on this, Nancy Freeborn, the Project<br />
Head, Women Empowerment Programme Scheme Synergy, WEPSS, a Corporate<br />
Social Responsibility Project of Nigeria’s oil and gas logistics giant, INTELS Nigeria<br />
Limited, speaks on the duties of the company especially as it relates to the issue of<br />
Nigerian women.<br />
In this interview, she x-rays how INTELS trained and empowered <strong>over</strong> 1000<br />
women as well as areas in which INTELS has concluded plans to impact more<br />
Nigerian women, especially those in the Niger-Delta region.<br />
By Ebunoluwa Sessou<br />
WEPSS clocked five recently. Would<br />
you say its objectives have been<br />
achieved?<br />
Yes, they have. This centre was set up in<br />
2013 to empower community women in host<br />
communities where INTELS operates. It is<br />
a corporate social responsibility of INTELS,<br />
so it is their way of giving back to their host<br />
communities and the Niger-Delta region at<br />
large. The goal from the beginning was to<br />
empower 5,000 women <strong>over</strong> a 20-year<br />
period through the acquisition of tailoring<br />
skills. So far, we have been able to empower<br />
more than 1,000 women, and I would say<br />
we are doing great. We try to reach out to<br />
people from the grassroots so we go into<br />
the communities so that those who really<br />
need the skill can apply. Our criteria are<br />
that you don’t need so much education. Just<br />
be able to read and write. It is like coming<br />
from the farm to factory; these are the people<br />
we are looking to empower. Every year, we<br />
have two training sessions, which last <strong>for</strong><br />
four and a half months each. The age range<br />
<strong>for</strong> the trainees is between 17 and 45 years.<br />
Prior to this time, we used to take in 50<br />
trainees per session; that is 100 trainees in a<br />
year. Currently, we take a minimum of 200<br />
trainees every year and that has been<br />
ongoing <strong>for</strong> some years now.<br />
The day-to-day running of WEPSS is<br />
solely funded by INTELS, down to the<br />
smallest needle and the materials we use to<br />
train our students. Once the trainees come<br />
to WEPSS, they are not only taught the<br />
practical aspects of tailoring, there are some<br />
theoretical aspects, which they learn. For<br />
example, a common part of tailoring that is<br />
popping up lately is garment illustration<br />
and how to sketch fashion figures. We teach<br />
them that here and the basics of sewing;<br />
how to use a measuring tape and even get<br />
them to run on paper be<strong>for</strong>e they begin to<br />
sew on actual fabric. The women are taught<br />
machine handling; they learn how to use<br />
different specialised machines. They are<br />
able to sew four basic garments; cut and<br />
sew be<strong>for</strong>e they leave here. The kind of<br />
training our trainees receive here is<br />
comparable to international standards.<br />
They also get soft skills training on personal<br />
hygiene, how to handle their business better<br />
when they leave here, social ethics and<br />
responsibility. When some of them come<br />
here, the way they dress and look isn’t good<br />
but at the end of the training, they leave as<br />
distinguished ladies who know how to carry<br />
themselves. This is because we take the extra<br />
time to teach them how to carry themselves.<br />
If you do not represent your brand well as a<br />
tailor, people will not come and make<br />
clothes with you. You have to make nice<br />
looking clothes <strong>for</strong> me to be interested; that<br />
is where it starts. When the women have<br />
completed their training, we still keep in<br />
touch through regular follow-ups. Anytime<br />
there is a graduation ceremony, we invite<br />
our alumni to come <strong>over</strong>. We know the<br />
progress that they have made and we know<br />
who to invite and who to showcase.<br />
How would you describe WEPSS’<br />
journey so far?<br />
As one of the members of the pioneer set,<br />
I got to see this place grow. I came in 2013<br />
as a trainee. At the time we started, this<br />
place was practically under construction. I<br />
have seen it evolve and grow from being a<br />
little training centre to a garment<br />
manufacturing factory and then back to a<br />
training centre again. About 300 rural<br />
women were taken in the pioneer set <strong>for</strong><br />
the training. We came in several batches<br />
because we were many in number. We were<br />
trained and retained, all 300 of us, as factory<br />
hands to work in our garment producing<br />
factory here. Back then, we produced as<br />
much as 300 garments daily. These<br />
garments - <strong>for</strong> instance c<strong>over</strong>alls - were<br />
being produced <strong>for</strong> companies at the Onne<br />
Oil and Gas Free Zone. Most of my trainers<br />
and cutters were also part of those 300 rural<br />
women. When this project started, we were<br />
being trained by Indians and Italians. We<br />
had a consultant from India. They came,<br />
introduced the program to us and left when<br />
they were done. INTELS ensured that the<br />
knowledge was handed down from the<br />
expatriates to us; it is now a core community<br />
project because it is handled by people who<br />
are from the Niger-Delta region. After I was<br />
through with my training; my per<strong>for</strong>mance<br />
was very good so I had more opportunities<br />
<strong>for</strong> growth. I started as a trainee, became a<br />
trainer, then head trainer, production<br />
supervisor, head production supervisor,<br />
be<strong>for</strong>e I finally became project head. I have<br />
*Nancy Freeborn<br />
learned so much in the process. Every other<br />
person you see working at the WEPSS<br />
centre was trained here, including the<br />
technicians. INTELS has not just only given<br />
to the trainees who come here <strong>for</strong> four and<br />
a half months but also to the people who<br />
work here.<br />
What has your experience as WEPSS<br />
Project Head been like?<br />
I have worked here as Project Head <strong>for</strong><br />
seven months. It has been fun; it is just<br />
added responsibility, which is fun to<br />
handle. It has its ups and downs but that is<br />
the beauty of life. Every batch comes with<br />
its own peculiarities. Some come here very<br />
heady but at the end of the day, we still get<br />
them to learn and they leave here happy. At<br />
the end of the day, the training is about<br />
moulding them in character and in learning.<br />
With this particular set of trainees, the<br />
biggest challenge was their dressing because<br />
we had so many young girls among them.<br />
You tell them not to wear something, the<br />
very next day; they will do that exact same<br />
thing. It was pretty challenging getting them<br />
to understand that they were no longer<br />
children but ladies who have to carry<br />
themselves in such a manner that they can<br />
handle a business of their own when they<br />
are done with this training.<br />
How many sets of trainees has<br />
WEPSS graduated since its<br />
inception?<br />
A total of six; the second set <strong>for</strong><br />
2018 graduated a few weeks ago.<br />
This set just like the one be<strong>for</strong>e it,<br />
was very competitive. We have this<br />
star chart we create <strong>for</strong> every<br />
assessment; there is a trainee who<br />
is the star of that assessment. We<br />
can tell how competitive each set<br />
has been by looking at how many<br />
times a trainee gets to appear as a<br />
star on the chart. In this set, we<br />
had just one person appear more<br />
than once. The rest were knocked<br />
off after just one appearance. The<br />
best graduating trainee in this last<br />
set is 18 years old but we have had<br />
a winner in the past that was<br />
younger than her. I noticed that<br />
this time around, we had a lot of<br />
young trainees. Perhaps it is the<br />
success of the project that is<br />
attracting young women from<br />
their various communities to<br />
WEPSS. They get to hear of other<br />
women who have acquired the<br />
skill and are able to do something<br />
with it. So many young girls who<br />
ordinarily would not have<br />
considered the program as<br />
something they want to do, are<br />
now interested in getting the<br />
skill.<br />
When our trainees leave here, it<br />
doesn’t end there. We keep in<br />
touch with them to know how they<br />
are doing; we always find a couple<br />
of them using the skills to better<br />
their lives. A few of the WEPSS<br />
alumni came <strong>for</strong> the last graduation<br />
ceremony. I am particularly excited about<br />
one of them who graduated in 2017 because<br />
she now sews Ankara shoes, bags and<br />
accessories with the help of the sewing<br />
machine she was given by INTELS. Most of<br />
the women would normally focus on clothes<br />
but she decided to do something very<br />
different. We have also received requests<br />
from other fashion designers who ask <strong>for</strong><br />
some of our trainees to come work <strong>for</strong> them<br />
when they graduate. A friend of mine<br />
contacted me recently about starting a<br />
garment factory that would produce men’s<br />
shirts in Rivers State. He was asking to see<br />
if he could hire some of the women here<br />
when they complete their training. When<br />
such opportunities come, we make them<br />
open to our trainees. The younger trainees<br />
might still have some aspirations; we don’t<br />
discourage them from aspiring <strong>for</strong> other<br />
things but we always encourage them to use<br />
the skills they have acquired from WEPSS.<br />
Some of them might want to further their<br />
education but they don’t have the funds.<br />
However, having been trained on fashion<br />
designing and tailoring, they can use the<br />
skills to fund their education.<br />
Family planning does not cause infertility, fibroid — Dr Farouk Jega<br />
By Chioma Obinna<br />
WORRIED about the myths<br />
and misconception<br />
surrounding family planning,<br />
Country Director of Pathfinder<br />
International Nigeria, Dr. Farouk<br />
Jega has dismissed insinuation<br />
that adopting family planning may<br />
cause the development of fibroid<br />
and infertility, saying it is safe <strong>for</strong><br />
all women.<br />
The Country Director who threw<br />
light on the raging issue during a<br />
three-day capacity building<br />
workshop on Investigative<br />
Journalism organised by the<br />
organisation in Lagos said there is<br />
no link between them.<br />
According to him, family<br />
planning does not suggest in any<br />
way that a woman should<br />
absolutely not have children,<br />
rather, it helps a woman space and<br />
limit birth to the number of<br />
children she can cater <strong>for</strong>.<br />
“There are several studies that<br />
have shown that birth spacing <strong>for</strong><br />
a number of years, at least <strong>for</strong> a<br />
minimum of two years between<br />
one pregnancy and the next have<br />
a lot of health benefits and none of<br />
the studies has shown any<br />
relationship with any disease or<br />
disorder including fibroid.<br />
“What we know is that there is a<br />
definite correlation between<br />
fibroid developing in the womb<br />
and some <strong>for</strong>ms of infertility but<br />
that is not to say that it is because<br />
the woman refused to have<br />
children that the fibroid arose.<br />
“It may be the same genetic<br />
factors that are responsible <strong>for</strong><br />
the woman not having children<br />
that are also the same factors<br />
that are responsible <strong>for</strong> the<br />
fibroid to grow” he stated.<br />
Jega explained that millions<br />
of women that have taken up<br />
family planning never<br />
developed fibroid as long as<br />
they have had children be<strong>for</strong>e<br />
and are using family planning<br />
either to space or limit the<br />
number of children they were<br />
having.<br />
“There is a strong relationship<br />
between fibroid and infertility<br />
but there isn’t any correlation<br />
between limiting or spacing of<br />
children and fibroid,” he<br />
argued.<br />
Decrying attitude of family<br />
planning providers in the<br />
country, he said a<br />
knowledgeable family<br />
planning service provider<br />
would make a lot of difference<br />
in family planning services.<br />
According to him, wellin<strong>for</strong>med<br />
service providers will<br />
bring about enormous change<br />
towards building trust in the<br />
adoption of family planning<br />
uptakes in Nigeria.<br />
Jega stated that every woman,<br />
especially in developing<br />
economies like Nigeria<br />
deserves quality family<br />
planning in<strong>for</strong>mation<br />
irrespective of her age in order<br />
to make an in<strong>for</strong>med decision.<br />
He said: “Pathfinder<br />
International Nigeria believes<br />
in provision of quality family<br />
planning in<strong>for</strong>mation <strong>for</strong><br />
families, and mostly women and<br />
there is no coercion on the part<br />
of women as far as issues on<br />
family planning is concerned.”<br />
Jega further encouraged<br />
women to have children early in<br />
order to avoid having babies<br />
with congenital de<strong>for</strong>mities.