The Artisans Peasants and Traders Association of Nigeria, APTAN, says training and empowerment of members are paramount to the achievement of its aims and objectives.
The Coordinator of the group in Alimosho, Mr Jamiu Badrudeen, said this in an interview with Community Standard.
The association’s branch was launched in Alimosho in 2014 to cater for the the interest of artisans, peasants and traders in the area.
Badrudeen said APTAN had organised series of empowerment trainings for members to improve their work skills and make them competent on their various fields.
“A lot of artisans today do not understand how to prepare quotations and they end up doing the wrong thing. So, to give our members the right orientation and knowledge, we had organised a seminar on how to prepare Quotations, and this has really helped some of them,” he said.
He said one of those things that brought about the formation of APTAN is the problem of existing unions and associations who often compel members to comply with certain obligations that sometimes infringe on their fundamental rights.
It is a common practice for such unions and associations to raid the shops and workplaces of members who refuse to comply with such obligations, and in the process, tools of trade are siezed and taken away.
Badrudeen said this problem is still there but APTAN is doing its best to address it whenever its members face such.
The association, which is fully registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Abuja, holds meeting on first Sunday of every month at 15, Lagger Street, Alimosho between 4 and 6 pm.
The APTAN coordinator revealed that another training programme is coming up soon and it will focus on Entrepreneurship.
