Delta graduates 110 trainees to meet demand of local fabrics

Delta State government says it has trained 110 persons in the last two years to meet the demand for its native attire called the “Akwa Ochan.”

Mrs Shimite Bello, Executive Secretary, State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Monday, in Asaba, the state capital.

Go all out to vote Buhari, APC candidates, Afenifere mandates Yorubas

Bello said that in the first batch of the programme, it graduated 60 persons, comprising young girls and women in 2018, adding that the second batch just graduated another set of 50 persons.

According to her, the graduands were presented starter packs consisting of  weaving machines to start their own businesses.

Bello said that her office decided to train more persons in the production of the local fabrics because of its increasing demand both locally and internationally.

“The training of the additional weavers became necessary in order to meet the increasing demand for the fabrics, particularly in the international market.

Akwa-Ochan is already trending at fashion shows in Lagos, London and Nairobi.

“We were able to achieve this following the commitment of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to the development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Centre at Issele-Uku in Ogwashi-Uku Local Government Area of the state.

“The governor’s commitment necessitated the procurement and installation of state-of-the-art weaving machines at the centre,” she told NAN.

Bello said during the first training that only the elderly women benefitted.

She added that the governor thereafter directed that in order to ensure the sustainability of the exercise, there was the need to train youths who could sustain it.

According to her, the exercise cut across all the local government areas of the state.

“In line with his directive, we selected two persons each from the 25 local government areas of the state for this second batch.

“And as I speak, we have got a lot of orders for Akwa-Ochan to the point that some of our weavers were already rejecting customers’ orders.

“The fabrics is getting a lot of demands, currently we have hit the Paris runway, Lagos and Ethiopia as people are now embracing the fabrics for `aso-ebi’ (uniform), because it now comes in different colours and designs,” Bello said.