About 1,200 association members will be empowered through skill development and a variety of training programmes, according to COWA's National President, Ms. Kikelomo Adeniyi.
In a meeting with the controllers of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, and Murtala Muhammed Airport Commands in Lagos on Wednesday, Mrs. Adeniyi, who is the wife of the acting Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, made this statement.
She said that COWA is a nonprofit charitable organisation whose goal is to assist Customs officers' spouses and families.
"The purpose of our visit today is to introduce COWA, a nonprofit organisation that was founded on August 13, 2009 to promote the welfare of Customs officers' families and to promote friendship, solidarity, and understanding among officers' wives.
We are committed to helping Customs officers' spouses and families. With a variety of outreach initiatives, including human capacity building programmes, empowerment initiatives, and ongoing member education, we aim to ensure the achievement of this goal, she said.
She claims that COWA also provides assistance to orphans all around the nation as well as to the widows and kids of Customs officials who died while performing their duties.
“We have identified specific areas of need that we intend to focus our attention on in the short and medium terms. These areas include; training our members on family’s health living, skill acquisition, business training and empowerment programmes, embarking on campaign against drug abuse and promotion of basic education.
Our training programmes are designed to help COWA members successfully launch and run enterprises without compromising their responsibilities at home. Between now and the end of 2024, 1,200 COWA members are expected to gain something from these trainings. In order to help surviving spouses care for their children, we are planning support for the wives and kids of fallen officers.
She stated that in order to do this, COWA plans to reach out to as many of these families as it can, especially those who have recently experienced a loss, and provide them assistance.
"Our priority in this area is to give children financial aid and scholarship awards for their education, and to give widows vocational training and empowerment.
"Considering the city's important location and the large number of officers who live nearby, COWA has determined that it is necessary to build primary and secondary schools to meet the educational needs of the officers' children who reside in the city.
"Our project would offer our children an excellent, high-quality, and inexpensive education, ease the financial strain on Customs officers who pay outrageous fees to educate their kids elsewhere, and also create possibilities for our members who work in the teaching profession to advance their careers.
"Given how helpful you have been to us, we sincerely thank you for your generosity and pledge not to let you down in any way. In light of this, we are looking for more funding to help us realise this objective by doing our part to improve the social welfare of our members and the country as a whole," she said.
The COWA President urged association members to support their husbands completely.
Don't add to your husbands' stress, please. Make your house a haven where they can retreat to after a long day of work and rest," she advised.
-By Osita Ugo|thetransporteroline24|Nigeria
