The wife of the Inspector-General of Police and National President of the Police Officers’ Wives Association (POWA), Mrs Elizabeth Egbetokun, has empowered 300 vulnerable women and widows of fallen police officers.
Egbetokun empowered the women on Thursday in Lagos during a three-day national annual convention with the theme: “Unlocking POWA Potential and Transformative Leadership.”
Speaking at the convention, she said the association was dedicated to supporting its members through empowerment initiative.
“Our goal as a non-governmental organisation is to help women and children especially wives of junior ranking officers, widows and orphans within our police community to become self-sufficient.
“This exercise is done often, in a year, we can empower women up to four times.
“We have visited over 16 states of the federation where we distributed skill acquisition items such as grinding machines, sewing machine, hairdressing machine and equipment, cooking gas, wheel chairs and essential food items among others.
“The most recent development is the inauguration of two POWA model schools in Abuja and two in Bauchi for the children of police officers and the wider community.
“Today, we continue with the tradition,” she said.
She congratulated all the selected beneficiaries and urged them to make good use of the items they would received.
One of the beneficiaries, a widow, Mrs Oluwatoyin Charles, said the item she received would better her life.
“I am so grateful, this sewing machine is my life and my everything. I have been craving for it.
“God will bless our president, she will not become a widow, she will eat the fruit of her labour, as she has made us happy, God will also make her happy.
“I am a fashion designer but I cannot work because my machine is very bad, it destroyed all my work, but this new machine will revive my work and go a long way for me,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Mrs Victor Neji, thanked the POWA president for her kind gesture.
“I thank the POWA president for this item, God will bless her and send helpers to her.
“God will also bless my husband, if not for him who joined the police, I would not have have the opportunity of winning this deep freezer.
“This freezer will help me in my business,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three-day national convention started on Wednesday to end on Friday.
