By Douglas Okoro
Agbaja (Ebonyi), Nov. 19, 2020 Regina Pacis Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO), says it has trained at least 9000 youths of Ebonyi in different vocational skills and financial education.
Chief Edward Nkwegu, the Founder and Chairman of the foundation, said this on Thursday during a ceremony to mark the organisation’s 16th anniversary held at Okpoduma in Agbaja, Ebonyi Local Government Area of the state.
Nkwegu said that the foundation’s mission statement was anchored on self-sustenance, adding that it had lifted at least 9000 men and women in the state from poverty and unemployment.
He said that self-sustenance was the most difficult project to embark on because it required funds.
He said that the foundation’s vocational training institute had been in the fore-front of training youths, men and women in different skills and empowering them with requisite financial knowledge to succeed.
Nkwegu, who is a renowned entrepreneur and industrialist, said that equipping youths with the right skills and financial knowledge would enhance their capacity to succeed in any career.
He argued that many people often repeat their mistakes in business because of the lack of financial education.
He described fiscal knowledge as the best antidote to poverty.
“When it comes to money, most people repeat their mistakes over and over again.
“The mistake of spending more than they earn and trying to reap where they did not sow top the list.
“When we want to share ideas on how we can sow to reap better harvest, most people usually do not have the patience to listen, many who listened make no effort to understand.
“People go to school for better life. Yet after their studies, they learn very little about money and self-sustanance.
“In Regina Pacis, we share the belief that poverty, which is absence of self-sustanance, is caused by ingnorance and lack of financial education,” Nkwegu said.
He said that the foundation was all about giving people a second chance at money and life through financial education for self-reliance.
“The new money is knowledge and knowledge begins with words and the good news is that words are free.
“Money alone can never end poverty. Many give the poor money out of kindness and often, giving money to the poor keeps them poorer,” he said.
Nkwegu said that the only way to end or reduce poverty was to upgrade the “words” often used by the poor through financial education.
“Give a man fish and you will feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for life,” he said.
He said that the foundation was established in 2015 to address the problem of youth unemployment and finacial restiveness in the state.
Naija247news learnt that no fewer than 162 students are currently undergoing training in different skills at the institute.