The Ekiti State Council for Arts and Culture in collaboration with Bureau of Labour, Employment and Productivity has promised to train young indigenes of the state in indigenous art and craft with a view to enhancing creativity and reducing unemployment.
The DG of the Council, Mr. Wale Ojo Lanre, and Mr Lanre Ogunjobi, DG Bureau of Employment, Labour and Productivity disclosed this on Friday during a visit to the Onisan of Isan Ekiti, Oba Adejuwon Gabriel Ayodele.
Isan, the home of the governor of the state, Dr Kayode Fayemi, is believed to be one of the few towns with huge number of skillful potters in the country.
“We have been to Ogotun Ekiti where we have mat weavers” Ojo Lanre said in his speech. “Today, we are in Isan to see the pottery centre and we will go to Ara, Ipoti and other Ekiti communities with creative and indigenous industries to reinforce their sustainability and ensure they are embraced for economic development and posterity”
Ogunjobi in his own remarks, said that apart from offering training, his organisation would facilitate soft loans through micro credit agencies to encourage women and younger ones in the business.
According to him, “part of Dr Kayode Fayemi’s vision is to uplift the lot of women and young people and one of the ways he wants to achieve this is to put in place sustainable projects that will reduce unemployment, empower people and generate revenue.’
In his response, Oba Ayodele said Isan is endowed with skillful potters who need support for mass production and marketing of their products.
The monarch urged the government to rebuild and upgrade the Isan pottery center which was built in 1985 by Late Mariam Babangida under her Better Life Programme. He recalled that the governor’s wife, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, started work on the centre during her husband’s first tenure.
Packaged by Emmanuel Adeniran
