No fewer than 50 women on Friday in Benin graduated from a training on conversion of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) vehicles to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by the Lady Mechanic Initiative.
Speaking at the presentation of certificates and starter packs to the beneficiaries, Sandra Aguebor, founder of the Lady Mechanic Initiative said the empowerment would boost the needed manpower for the conversion of PMS (petrol) vehicles to those using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
The graduation ceremony has in its theme, “CNG Conversion: A new horizon for women in the Automotive industry”.
Aguebor opined that the Lady mechanics in Edo State have the potential to convert vehicles from petrol to CNG following their training and successful graduation from the Lady Mechanic Initiative (LMI).
She said the training of women in the conversion PMS vehicles to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) was geared towards boosting their economic prosperity and that of their families.
According to her, the Lady Mechanics Initiative has availed me the opportunity to support the girl child with mentoring and counseling.
“The training is being jointly held by the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), the Edo State Government, and the Lady Mechanic Initiative (LMI)”,she said.
The President of the Lady Mechanic Association of Nigeria, who noted that the Lady Mechanics initiative has empowered 6000 women across the country also added that the initiative has presence in over 20 states in the country with certified coordinators.
She added that the beneficiaries have been trained and certified as CNG conversion technicians, adding that LMI was spreading the campaign of females taking over the male dominated automotive industry.
She, however, commended the Edo State governor, Monday Okpebholo, for supporting the initiative and the federal government for its commitment to the training and the initiative.
On his part, Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipi, Director-general/CEO National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) said the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for Ladies in Edo State is a testament of the commitment of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (Pi-CNG).
Osanipi, said Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (Pi-CNG) was geared towards bringing cleaner and more affordable energy solutions directly to our economy and women folk in particular.
He said to ensure skills development and international best practices in the automotive sector of the country, the Council built twenty-one Automotive Training Centres (ATCs) across the six geo-political zones.
He said it was aimed at redefining the nation’s auto industry, job provision and improvement in skills among technicians.
In his address, the State Governor, Monday Okpebholo commended Sandra Aguebor, the founder of Lady Mechanic Initiative for the empowerment of the 50 women in the CNG conversion.
Okpebholo represented by Umar Musa Ikhilor, the Secretary to the State Government said the state government has approved the training and empowerment of 54,000 women in the next four years.
The governor also said that approval has been given for the empowerment of 1000 in the 2025 fiscal year across the 18 local government areas bringing the total to 18,000.
He reeled out some of the programmes geared towards the empowering women in the state to include, the recent launching of N1billion interest-free loan for women traders among others.
