MTNF graduates 40 lady mechanics

The corporate responsibility arm of the mobile giant known as MTN Foundation recently graduated 40 lady mechanics, under the Lady Mechanic Initiative (LMI).

The Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Ms Nonny Nduka-Eze, made this disclosure in Lagos and said that those who passed out at the occasion completed three-year intensive automobile repair training, including internships in Nigeria’s foremost automobile companies.

“40 young ladies sponsored by the MTN Foundation under the Lady Mechanic Initiative (LMI) have graduated as qualified automobile mechanics. Thirty-five of them have secured employment in various automobile service centres across the country,” she revealed.

She also said that the Foundation partnered with LMI since three years ago to help young ladies who are under- privileged to quit a life of financial dependency and start earning honest living through automobile repair work. MTNF, she also said, invested over N38 million to provide practical training in auto mechanic at Pay & Train centres, theoretical lectures in mechanical engineering, monthly self-help lectures on social economic and health issues, three (3) months industrial attachment at Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN), Kaduna, driving test and provision of driver’s license, trade test certification and internship programme at Mitsubishi, R.T. Briscoe, Elizade and Toyota.

“These ladies have shown the can do spirit which is one of the core values of MTN Nigeria and we are proud to be part of their success story today. Not only have they been empowered to take care of themselves and their families, they are also living testimonies to the fact that anything is possible if you are determined,” she said.

The Minister for Women Affairs, Mrs. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, who represented President Musa Yar’Adua at the occasion expressed delight that the project is in line with Seven Point Agenda.

“It is the sort of initiative we need in our dear country to help combat vices and crime, and we must commend it to other public-spirited individuals and corporate bodies,” she said.

Each of the successful graduands received a set of tools from MTN Foundation, while the best three with outstanding results among them also received various gifts including a DVD mini Hi-Fi system, a microwave oven and a pressure cooker.

The Lady Mechanic Initiative was founded in 1985 by Sandra Aguebor-Ekperuoh, the first female mechanic in the country to shepherd indigent girls in the communities away from vices and crime into meaningful means of livelihood.

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