CSR initiative: Falcon Petroleum empowers 58 Ikorodu women

If “training a woman is training a nation” then Falcon Petroleum, one of Nigeria’s leading oil and gas conglomerates, has taken a giant step towards achieving that with the empowerment of 58 women within Ikorodu community in Lagos with vocational skills in various crafts.

The women who included the unemployed, students, indigent and those who want to upgrade their skills were trained for three months in catering business, decoration and events management, dress making and design, as well as bead-making and wire works under the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.

For sustainability and to ensure that the trainees achieve their objectives, the management of Falcon promised that the trainees would be monitored over a period of time to understand their challenges and progress.

Speaking during the graduation ceremony of the beneficiaries held at the Rainbow Event Centre, Itokin, Ikorodu recently, Joseph Ezigbo, the managing director, Falcon Petroleum Limited, described the Initiative as the company’s way of giving back to the society by empowering the less privileged women and also to entrench a better relationship with its host community-Ikorodu.

Ezigbo noted that this gesture is in consonance with the ‘Train a woman, Train a Nation’ maxim geared towards empowering the women to become self-sufficient and financially capable of sustaining self, family and the country at large.

According to the Managing Director, the graduation ceremony for the first batch of beneficiaries is just the beginning as the CSR Women Empowerment Programme is an ongoing initiative with many more people to benefit in the coming years. He also stated that beyond the skills acquisition training and endowment packs, Falcon has set up a system to monitor and evaluate the impact of the programme to ensure the sustainability of the initiative.

“As a company, we are very passionate about touching lives positively as well as impacting the lives of the people of our host community and economies where we operate. We are indeed very glad about the graduation ceremony of the beneficiaries of our CSR women empowerment programme,” he added.

In his keynote remarks at the occasion, Taofiq Tijani, the Lagos State commissioner for energy and minerals resources, commended Falcon Petroleum Limited for the laudable initiative which he noted will go a long way to impact positively on the lives of the beneficiaries and their community at large.

The Commissioner then called on other well-meaning corporate organisations to support the efforts of the government in making life better for the less privileged by emulating the worthy Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Falcon Petroleum. He then urged beneficiaries to make the best use of the opportunity to better their lives and impact the society positively.

Speaking shortly after the presentation of certificates to the participants, Audrey Joe-Ezigbo the executive director, Falcon Petroleum Limited, admonished the beneficiaries to make the best use of the unique opportunity given to them by the company by excelling in their various areas of vocational skills to better their lives and affect the community as a whole.