Church empowers 150 with entrepreneurial skills

In a bid to empower citizens and help government reduce unemployment, the Global Evangelical and Prayer Ministry recently trained over 150 people on entrepreneurial skills.

Held in Lagos, the entrepreneurs were mentored on mini importation, makeup, website design, photography and event decoration.

After the three-day programme scheduled to end today, the graduates would be given scholarships in education, sponsorship in vocational training and financial support to start a business of their choice.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, Senior Pastor of the church, Samson Adeleye noted that the poverty level, unemployment rate, cases of violence, disturbances and insecurity witnessed across the country are linked to lack of skills and idleness.

He said when people have sustainable means of livelihood; they will not only create jobs, but will also contribute to the nation’s peace and security.

Adeleye said there was need to channel people’s innovation, creativity and energy, especially youths to the nation’s growth and development.

He said: “The idle hands are the devil’s workshop. We believe we can reach so many people by this programme. One person that we engage here today could feed hundreds of people tomorrow.

“We believe Christianity in its human form should not only care about the human spirit, but also about the person’s body, finance, health, marriage and community.

“The white-men that brought Christianity did not come empty-handed. They brought education, health and civilization, among others. It’s so surprising to see so many rich churches in our land and at the same time, a very high level of poverty among our people. We are not constraining ourselves to our members or even Christians alone.”

The grateful recipients commended the church for finding it worthy to give back to society.

According to Rasheed Ogunsola, who was trained on mini importation business, the programme would put an end to his over five years of unemployment after school.

He urged government to partner churches and organisations in order to reduce the huge number of jobless youths.

He said: “The idea is commendable, as it will help immensely in ensuring that idle youths get busy with something, no matter how small. I know with the knowledge I have acquired here today, my immediate needs have been adequately taken care of. Although I am a Muslim, I have benefitted a lot from the programme. It is a call to action for other churches and private organisations to give back to their host communities.

“Also, government must do all within its powers to ensure that the problem of unemployment, which is responsible for delinquency in the society is urgently addressed. If youths are not engaged, the problem of insecurity, kidnap, robbery, among others, will always be on the rise.”