In a bid to ensure women are financially independent, WaterAid Nigeria with the support of DP World has trained 60 women on Financial Management.
While Female Local Area Mechanics, FLAMs also were also trained on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH, facility Management Entrepreneurship to ensure maintenance of WASH facilities constructed by WaterAid Nigeria in Ikorodu North LCDA and Ojodu LCDA by local residents for longevity.
At the training at LASTMA premises in Ikorodu, WaterAid Nigeria Finance Officer, Catherine Ajaba emphasized that financial management goes beyond basic book keeping and records taking, saying reporting daily transactions would impact nearly every aspect of a business
performance in terms of funding operational efficiency.
Ajaba urged the female participants to develop improvement in their spending habits to support long term profitability.
“The objectives of the financial management training for women entrepreneurs is to empower them as economically independent leaders by providing them with technical skills, institutionalized financial discipline, and a clear pathway toward sustainable service-based livelihoods and community governance roles in the WASH Sector using a two-tiered “Learn-Earn-Sustain” model to ensure that empowerment is not just theoretical but functional”
On his part, during the training of the female LAMs, WaterAid Nigeria WASH Manager, Mr Dare Oduluyi, urged participants to ensure their communities are open defecation free, hence the need for them to report any cases of disludging human faeces into public drainages in their communities to the Environmental Health Officers, who were also part of the training or relevant government agencies.
“The Project under DP World “Advancing Inclusive Water Sanitation and Hygiene in Lagos commenced in June 2025 and will end by the end of this month, May 2026”.
“The project aims to advance inclusive, sustainable WASH services delivery in Ojodu and Ikorodu North LCDAs through increased access to sustainable WASH, empowerment of women and strengthening of the WASH sector as it will leverage on previous interventions to Strengthen WASH Service delivery in the state. In one year, WaterAid aims to reach 108,000 people with Water Sanitation and Hygiene Services in the target community of Ikorodu North and school in Ojodu LCDAs”.
One of the Facilitator who took the participants on Plumbering techniques, Mr Terse Garba, believed that women could thrive in the sector if they put their mind into it through regular engagement on the fielding noting that Plumbering work is not for the weak.
He encouraged the female LAMs to research and learn the knitty gritty of the job to be a sought after professional.
On his part, another Facilitator, Mr Emmanuel Odukoya who spoke on waste management in the WASH sector advised participants to desist from shallow knowledge and learn different methods of channelization to allow for free flow in drainages, urging them to avoid using materials that are not biodegradable.
Some of the participants who are enthusiastic about going to the field thanked WaterAid Nigeria and DP World for the opportunity noting that what a man can do a woman can do much better.
One of them, Adeyinka Okolo, said “I’ve learned so many things so far. I’ve been able to know how to differentiate between four panel solar and eight panel solar, with it’s installation which was taught in the last three days, I’m very proud of what they are teaching us, the way they are treating us, the way they are making us know that we can do a lot of things, even without waiting for anyone, so that we can be entrepreneurs, and we won’t depend on anyone to be giving us money.”
Another participant, Alabi Felicia who said she is female LAM said “I’ve learnt amazing things like from plumbering to solar panels, to installing the solar panel, to connecting the solar panel to the plumbering pipes and making sure it works effectively and also we were also taught safety also”
On Financial management training, the participants said they can now account for their capital and profit, to know how their small scale business is doing, saying the training has actually given them more enlightenment from managing our funds, pricing, costing and also documentation of inflow and outflow of their cash, we sincerely thank WaterAid Nigeria for this opportunity”
Reporting by Yemisi Dada