The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has launched her first book on “Essentials of Beauty Therapy’’ to enhance the health and wellbeing of human body.
Mrs Buhari made the public presentation of the book on Thursday in Abuja at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
She described the book as the outcome of many years of research after series of courses she undertook in order to acquire the necessary knowledge to specialise in those areas.
“My natural passion for beauty and fashion developed the unique interest to work, teach and mentor young ones on beauty and fashion.
“In my over 10 years in beauty industry, l have trained, mentored and empowered hundreds of young Nigerians in different areas such as facial, skin and body care,’’ she said.
Aisha said that she had served as member of the technical team that developed the curriculum on beauty therapy.
She said the curriculum development was aimed at building the capacity of young school drop outs for empowerment and self-reliance programmes in vocational institutions.
She expressed hope that the book as a training manual would be part of the curriculum of the new National Board for Technical Education, Vocational Enterprise Institute and National Institute Diploma on Cosmetology in beauty therapy in Nigeria.
Aisha said that her decision to present the book was to contribute through her personal efforts to support the victims of insurgents particularly women and children.
“It is on this note, l’m dedicating this event and the proceeds from the sales of the books to be used to empower the mothers of the Chibok girls.
“Others are Buni Yadi boys murdered in their sleep in 2014 as well as support the malnourished children in the different Internally Displaced Persons camps and other children in such situation across the country.
“As a mother, my heart is always with the parents of these children; I bear their pains and belief that this is one of the efforts to console them.
“The parents of these children brought to this event to witness this event is an indication that at individual level a lot can be done to alleviate their hardship.’’
She pleaded to all those who purchased copies of the book to donate to educational institutions in order to serve as reference materials to support the learning of the girl-child.
She commended her husband and the family for supporting and encouraging her while writing the book.
President Buhari had reiterated government commitment to see that the Chibok girls were brought back, alive and healthy.
Buhari, who was represented by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, commended Mrs Buhari for dedicating proceeds from the sales to IDPs, parents of Chibok girls and Buni Yadi boys to empower them.
He described the book as detail and helpful that would be used as reference materials to teach young ones.
Speaking earlier, the former of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, said the book explores the potentials of an industry that was yet to be fully tapped in the country.
Tinubu, who was represented by his wife, Mrs Olurimi Tinubu, said that the beauty therapy as a profession has grown into a booming industry parading skilled and educational professionals.
The former governor and also the Chairman of the book presentation said in the world women and young ladies in large numbers had expanded a huge budget on beauty treatment and products.
He said the beauty industry had grown into a multi-billion dollar industry with different products as well as increasing numbers of beauty therapists making huge profit.
“The person who has taken the lead in exposing the importance of this profession is well positioned to champion the growth and development of this industry.’’
“Quara.com reports that in just years ago the beauty therapy industry in America involving 70,000 hair care saloons; 65,000 beauty saloons and 5,000 barber shops generated a combined sale of 19 billion dollars,’’ he cited as example.
He said that Nigeria and Nigerians should pay attention to the industry as it was capable of creating employment and income for hundreds of thousands of men and women.
He noted that in Europe, North America and developing African countries many had gained employment into the industry.
“Imagine Nigeria with her population and the average number of people that visit the saloons for waxing, pedicure and manicure, massage and other facials, the amount of income that can be generated and jobs creation.’’
He said that the book had created an urgent need to start to consciously set up beauty therapy schools where interested persons can obtain adequate training and properly certified.
“This will also attract investors into the country. Many of our youth could train to become hair stylists, nail technicians, cosmetologists, wax specialists and barbers,’’ he said.
Tinubu said that loan scheme could also be set up from which small scale loans could benefit while vocational schools could be set up too in partnership with private companies that produce beauty and skin products.
He said Nigeria needs her women to now take the lead in exploring these opportunities and expanding the frontiers of empowerment, saying it is a key to opening and expanding that frontier.
He commended Mrs Buhari to invest all the proceeds from the launch of this book in charities such as empowerment of the victims of Boko Haram and support for child malnutrition.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the book has 406 pages and seven chapters. (NAN)