At least 8,480 who have been skilled in a variety of trades have been advised to use the vocational skills that they have acquired from their training to meet the needs of people, which in turn, will make them wealthy and prosperous.
The advice was sounded by President Yoweri Museveni on Sunday afternoon while officiating at the graduation ceremony of 8,480 female graduands who have benefitted from the Presidential Initiative on Skilling the Girl Child of the July- December 2018 intake who successful completed their training and obtained skills in bakery, hair dressing, knitting, tailoring and shoemaking. They were drawn from the areas of Kigowa, Mutundwe, Luzira, Wandegeya, Nakulabye and Katanga in Kampala District.
The President, who earlier toured different exhibition stalls, said that Africans must stop taking jobs and money abroad because they have the capability to work here and became rich.
“Africans go and look for jobs outside, yet we have the best weather and resources. People in dry places like Dubai are manufacturing things and making money. This is a sample. We are going to continue supporting such programmes such that we don’t take our jobs and money abroad,” he said.
The President also noted that the youth must endeavor to train and acquire new skills like making cement blocks, oil from sim sim seeds and pavers from stones, among other new skills.
He reiterated his plan of forming Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs) of the same skill-set in various districts in the country to enable them become prosperous.
“We will be doing this in various districts but for big districts like Kampala, we will treat the Divisions as districts. The same will also apply to big districts like Wakiso,’ he explained.
The Minister for Kampala City Authority, Hon. Betty Kamya, in her brief remarks, thanked President Museveni for reaching out to the needs of wananchi and for reducing the burden on parents who must pay tuition for students.
Mrs. Lucy Nakyobe Mbonye, the State House Comptroller and the in charge of the Presidential Initiative on Skilling the Girl Child, advised the graduands to apply the skills learnt and make money as it was the objective of the project. She added that it would be a waste of money if they did not work.
