Gov. Nwifuru: Tackling Street Hawking Through Skills Development

Since coming on board as the 4th Executive Governor, Right Honourable Builder Francis Nwifuru has made significant strides in tackling incidences of street trading by Ebonyi youths through various initiatives aimed at promoting a more organized and regulated trading environment. 

Chief among his many strides in this direction is the massive empowerment of the street traders. 

With a whooping sum of 2 million naira each, Governor Nwifuru is intentional in supporting their transition from street trading to more formalized businesses through skills training programmes and access to financial resources.

Just recently, particularly on April 29, 2025, His Excellency, Governor Francis Nwifuru flagged off the construction of a comprehensive Industrial City with an integrated manufacturing system in Izhiangbo, Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the State.

The Industrial City— arguably the first of its kind in the Southeast geopolitical zone has an 'independent' smart skills training centre inside the Industry City.

Designed to provide sustainable skills empowerment, woodwork, plumbing, dressmaking, fabrication, carpentry, leatherwork, plastics production, ceramics production, mechanics, fashion, design, painting, paint production, textiles, hairdressing, photography, crafting, drawing, pottery, moulding, timbering, welding, metallurgy, videography, laundry, fishery and piggery are billed to address joblessness and keep the youths afloat in the nation's already crowded job markets.

The trainees, as it would interest you to know, will also be taught glassmaking, floriculture, animal feed production, poultry, heliculture, animal husbandry, shoemaking, folding, vulcanization, pesticides, apiary, reconditioning, fireworks and catering.

Other skills include electricals, decoration, veterinary, packaging, ornamentation, forging, embroidery, entertainment, framing, driving, and software designs among others.

The trainees who would be confined within the Industrial City for a considerable period in the course of the training would be settled with a workshop within the Centre on graduation.

The government would also further encourage the trainees to be self-reliant on graduation through the provision of basic tools and startup Capital.

It is the desire of the Government to through the Centre relaunch the active population of the State who are making their daily bread on the streets of major cities in Nigeria through hawking of wares to more meaningful ventures.

When this is done, the incidence of profiling of the Ebonyi youth population as potential street hawkers by enemies of the State will become a thing of the past.

This would also further perk up the State's internally generated revenue profile as no material other than what is produced by the technicians would be traded in the whole of the Industrial City.

With this in place, Ebonyi is expected to soon become a model for other States to emulate in search of long-term solutions to unemployment and street trading in Nigeria.

Ebonyi under Governor Nwifuru would always be setting the pace while others emulated.

FON to the world!!!

Dr. Boniface Nwankwo 

Special Assistant to the Governor on Documentation 

June 9, 2025.