The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has commissioned a skills acquisition centre, Future Prowess Orphanage School Capacity Building Centre to immortalise the late chief of staff to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.
The skills acquisition centre which is an extension of the Future Prowess Orphanage School has about 30 girls and 20 boys drafted from the main school with about 2,085 students and pupils, who are mostly orphans that lost both parents to the Boko Haram insurgency.
Speaking during the commissioning yesterday in Maiduguri, the founder of the school, Barr Zanna Mustapha, said the centre was set up to enhance the curriculum and support the students with skills acquisition for them to be self-reliant after graduation.
He said the students, while undergoing studies, are exposed to tailoring, shoe-making and cobbling, hand bag designing, among others.
“The school, which has a total of 2,085 students mostly girls, has now introduced skills acquisition as part of its empowerment programme. The school had established a farm as a source of generating revenue to augment the running of the school.
“We want to train and empower them so that they can fit into society. All that we need is the support that would be given to them so that they can support themselves,” Mustapha said.
He thanked the NEDC for assisting the school with textbooks, school bags and sandals as well as food items and pleaded for more support in meeting the needs of the students and pupils.
Commissioning the centre, the managing director, North East Development Commission (NEDC), Dr Mohammed Alkali, reiterated the commitment of the commission to investing more in the education and other development sectors to fast-track the recovery of the region.
Alkali commended the founder of the school for complementing the effort of the Federal and Borno State governments in empowering children of the less privileged and assured of continued partnership with the school.
